Between Asleep and Awake
by Mika the Raven
Summary: An otherwordly entity has dark aspirations for out pigtailed hero. What could they be, and how far will he go to see them to fruition?
1. Something for Nothing

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

by Mika The Raven

Disclaimer: I didn't build the jungle gym I'm just playing on it. Don't sue me.

Prologue: Something For Nothing

It was going to rain soon, everyone knew it. The sky had been threatening to relieve itself upon the world for a little over a week, a rare occurence in a district with a history of freak thunderstorms. The people who lived there had long since become accustomed to it even though the weather patterns over Nerima had been pretty predictable up until a few years back. Like everything else that had happened in recent years the residents had learned to take in stride. Besides a little extra rain here and there couldn't possibly be any worse than random and rampant proprty destruction… Could it?

_Swish!_

Ranma Saotome was once again dodging the inevitable morning bokken strike administered by one Tatewaki Kuno. This being a somewhat common occurence, his classmates had long since become disinterested. Especially since they were both seniors, Kuno not having been nearly as studious since his arrival three years ago.

"Stand fast and I shall smite thee churlish cretin!" Kuno bellowed as he tried again unsuccessfully to make skull and bokken connect. "How thy dark magics hath stood before the vengeful wrath of heaven is beyond mortal ken, but thou shalt be felled this day, So doth the Blue Thunder command! Prepare yourself!

"Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike!"

Ranma barely flinched as the immense air pressure caused by Kuno's "ultimate" attack washed over him. Years ago when they had started this daily dance it might have fazed him, but the main tenet of his particular school of martial arts had always been adapt and overcome, and he had figured this move out years ago. He didn't even bother dodging, deciding instead to merely swat aside each blow as though he were walking through a swarm of gnats. At this point hehad had quite enough and was probably going to be late for class yet again. Not that it really mattered.

"This move again Kuno? Seriously, aren't you tired of being a one trick pony?" Ranma smirked as he waited for his opponents attack to fizzle out. He was purposely drawing this encounter out trying to see once and for all if Kuno had anything more whatsoever to offer as an opponent. Like everything else in his life, he knew that he was destined to be disappointed.

Without waiting for Kuno to catch his breath, he stepped into a very basic Shotokan stance emphasizing offense, and threw a half-hearted chop at the wrist of Kuno's drawing hand. Kuno, seeing the lazy attempt at a disarming blow coming a mile away, and lanced a high speed counter-swing across Ranma's chest, but it was not to be. Ranma stepped around the strike with a twist and caught both his wrists with his arm before yanking the bokken free with his free hand.

_POW! _

Ranma drove the back of his head into Kuno's face, dropping him like a sack of potatoes, and proving to everyone but the recipient who the superior combatant was. Snorting disgustedly at the fallen kendoist, he turned and walked towards the school doors. He didn't even bother to make a parting shot, his attention already focused on the entryway before him. He sighed in dismay as thesky chose the exact moment his hand touched the doorknob to bestow its watery blessing upon the world. He, now a she, silently cursed every last one of the kami that had decided her life was some sort of spectacle and growled.

"Why do I even bother coming here?"

She had never really aspired to much except the Art, and she had already spent far too much of her life in pursuit of it to even begin to consider anything else. She didn't really have any hobbies or interests, and her social life was laughable at best. Ten years on the road can do much to hamper your ability to interact with normal people.

Then there was "The Curse", and it was that in every feasible way. She hated it every time she changed. Every time she felt a little more of her manhood wash away, felt more and more confused every time whatever chemicals that flooded the brains and bodies of females addled her senses. Finally there was Akane. She didn't know what she felt about her except that her safety was paramount. They weren't even friends. The only shared interest they had was the art, and she treated her passion more like a hobby than a career path, and still had the unmitigated gall to proudly proclaim "I'm a martial artist too!" every time she told her to stay out of a situation that was clearly too dangerous for her.

He arrived at the class room just as the last bell rang.

"Late again Mr. Saotome? " Ms. Hinako said as she marked her tardy for the umpteenth time, not even bothering to notice Ranma was currently female.

"Honestly Mr. Saotome. Do you wake every morning and think about just how much of a delinquent you are going to be?"

She didn't even bother with an answer because they seemed to work for everybody but her, and raised her hands in a silent display of exasperation.

"Stand in the hall until you feel you can make it here on time."

"Yeah, Whatever." she said as she slowly walked back out the door.

To everybody else she was either The Womanizing Jerk, The Vile Sorceror, An Airen, a Source of cash, or The Baka, but never Saotome Ranma. If she was of a like mind she would level the school with a perfect Shi Shi Hokodan. Thinking of Ryouga's ultimate skill make her grind her teeth in frustration. There was another thing that weighed heavily on her mind. Hibiki Ryouga, her one-time friend now apparently her all the time nemesis. She knew it was her fault Ryouga was cursed but so was she. She had at one time felt a sort of kinship with the lost boy, but those feelings had long been destroyed by mistrust and abuse.

"Stupid pig."

Ranma walked down the hall to the stairwell and made her way to the roof. She laid down atop the clocktower.

There were also the fiancées to consider. The only one who had an even remotely valid claim was Akane, Ukyo having conveniently forgotten that she had gambled away the yattai before Genma had ever struck that fateful deal. She didn't even want to think about Kodachi and what that would entail. If she were to pick Shampoo she would die a broken man forced to adhere to laws that were not her own. The same thing went for Ukyo. If she chose her, she would end up a stay at home husband slowly wasting away while she waited for her to allow her to go on an occasional training trip.

She had been thinking about her situation more and more as of late and it both unnerved and depressed her immensely. As he saw she had three choices. One, Marry one of them and stain the other girl's honor as well as her own. Two, Run away with her tail between her legs like an honorless dog and live the rest of her days a ronin and an outcast. Then there was the third and final option, Seppuku which had been becoming steadily more appealing as she merely existed from day to day.

WHY DON'T YOU JUST KILL THEM ALL, IT'S WHAT YOU REALLY WANT TO DO _ANYWAY_. JUST GIVE IN TO THE URGE. LET'S PAINT THE TOWN RED!

She squeezed her eyes shut as pain lanced through her skull, and knew it was the cat talking. This was another recent development that worried her immensely. She had been hearing its voice for weeks now, and there was something sickeningly satisfying about the images her tormentors voice railed against her psyche.

The thought of the hunt, the catch and rending the tender flesh of a helpless victim asunder and watching as the light left their eyes. She also knew that if she stayed here she would lose her fragile grip on her already fractured sanity. She needed help and she had no one to turn to; she hadfallen into a deep crevice with no hope of rescue.

YOU DO NOT REQUIRE AID, BUT YOU NEED ONLY ASK, AND REST ASSURED I WILL ENDEAVOR TO ASSIST YOU. The cat said smugly.

"Why would I ask for help from something that obviousl_y_ means I've gone insane?" was Ranma's biting reply.

NO YOU _HAVEN'T._ AS A MATTER OF FACT YOU'RE PROBABLY ONE OF THE SANEST PEOPLE ON THAT DISGUSTING LITTLE BALL OF MUD YOU CALL HOME. CRAZY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THEY'RE CRAZY.

"Then why am I hearing your voice?" Ranma said incredulously.

BECAUSE YOU WANT TO.

That statement held a truth that Ranma couldn't find any ground from which to launch a statement to the contrary.

"Why should I ask for your help? What would it solve?" She said almost softly enough to be a whisper.

YOUR PROBLEMS.

"How could you possibly know so much about me? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

YOU'LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH

The voice of the cat faded into his mind with a lingering chuckle.

End of prologue

A.N.

Hey people mika here Carmina is undergoing an extensive revision and in some parts a total rewrite. let me know what you think.

When ranma is in boy form he will be refered to as he, and when in girl form she.

FLAMES WILL BE USED TO FUEL THE OROCHI FIRE!


	2. What's Mine is Mine

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

by Mika The Raven

Not rich, did it for fun, don't sue

All original characters are copyrighted by me but you are free to use them if you ask

Chapter 1: What's Mine is Mine

He dreams…

Winds blew silently across a desolate landscape, there was an occasional gnarled thing that looked like a nightmarish version of a tree, and a sense of presence that threatened to overwhelm the psyche like the feeling one gets when one knows it is being hunted.

Ranma felt the dry earth crack beneath his feet as he cautiously made his way towards a light in the distance. He had been walking for what seemed like hours trying to reach it, but no matter how far he walked, the strange multi-colored light just seemed that much farther away. He had also discovered that his footprints seemed to erase themselves after a few seconds, so he had absolutely no idea how far he had actually walked, or if he was walking in circles for that matter.

YOU ARE NOT YET MEANT TO APPROACH THE ZIGGURAT. He heard the taunting voice of the cat from just behind his left shoulder and spun around to meet nothing but air

"Where are you?" exclaimed the pig-tailed Saotome scion.

EXACTLY WHERE I'VE ALWAYS BEEN, RIGHT BESIDE YOU. Ranma felt the cat smiling.

Ranma spun about frantically trying to find the location of his tormentor, but to no avail. He was just barely able to make out the presence of someone else just beyond the edge of his perception, but sensing it was like listening for a mouse's heartbeat in a clock factory.

"I'm getting tired of playing your games!" he yelled into the void.

WHO SAYS YOU'RE PLAYING MY GAME? I FOR ONE FIND THIS WHOLE SITUATION YOU'VE MANAGED TO PLACE YOURSELF IN BOTH TRITE AND TRIFLING.

A puzzled expression settled across Ranma's features. This was an unexpected development, but Ranma hadn't survived as long as he had without having learned to be overly suspicious of strange events… Imagined or otherwise

"Didn't you bring me here?" he whispered hesitantly

WHY WOULD I DO A THING LIKE THAT? WATCH YOUR STEP.

What he saw next took his breath away. The world around him seemed to warp and reshape itself into new and even more impossible angles. He noticed inklings of movement in his peripheral vision, and the shadows that threatened to overwhelm the narrow pathway where he now stood seemed to ebb and flow as though they were part of some greater malevolent presence. He started to walk down the path as if drawn by something that told him he would find his answers here. At the end of the ruined cobblestone walkway was an ancient looking structure that appeared to be a cross between Roman and Japanese architecture with a gigantic steel door with a surface pattern that resembled oil on water. Ranma put his hands on the door and shuddered as he felt the heat sucked from them.

I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO STOP NOW.

"Shut up." Ranma growled out.

JUST TRYING TO BE HELPFUL. Ranma could hear the smile in the cat's voice

Ranma sighed with his entire body and relented "Why should I stop?"

YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO BE HERE. THERE ARE CREATURES IN THIS REALM THAT WOULD FIND YOU MOST APPETIZING. IT JUST WOULD NOT DO FOR YOU TO PERISH AT THIS TIME.

Ranma scoffed at this, what was there that could possibly hurt him? He had beaten things that would have killed a lesser man. Hell he had almost single handedly defeated a power mad godling. He was Saotome Ranma, Heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. He wasn't afraid of anything...well except for ca-ca-ca...fuck it, those furry _hate-filled _little devils. He began to push at the door with a herculean effort, but it would not budge. Suddenly his entire body was wracked with the most intense pain he had ever experienced. He then felt himself picked up like he was a toy and flung into one of the many pillars that were skewed about the courtyard of the acropolis.

_**I THOUGHT I MIGHT FIND A SMALL MEAL, BUT INSTEAD I FIND A FEAST! IT'S CRIES ARE LIKE THE FINEST NECTAR IN ALL REALITY. I SIMPLY CANNOT WAIT TO SUCK THE FLESH FROM THIS **__**ONE'S**__** BONES.**_ A voice said from the shadows above the door.

Ranma shook his head clear of the many brilliant stars that clouded his vision. "Anybody get the number of that truck?" he groaned as he gathered his bearings.

ONLY A VERY UNWELCOME GUEST. Ranma could feel the hatred rolling off of the cat's presence in his mind. BOY, LOOK JUST ABOVE THE DOOR.

Ranma did so. What he saw shocked him speechless. Perched on the wall just above the massive door was the biggest spider he had ever seen in his life... at least he thought it was a spider. It seemed to be made entirely out of shadow as parts of it seemed smoky and not really there. Its eyes were black dead things that made it impossible to know if it was looking at you. But the most chilling thing was that behind its fangs there was a very human mouth that was filled with razor sharp teeth. It was grinning at him.

"What the hell is that thing?" Ranma managed to get out.

THAT BOY, IS A DREAM EATER. GIVEN THE CHANCE IT WOULD CONSUME MORE THAN JUST THIS NIGHTMARE.

"What do you mean by that?" Ranma was afraid of the answer.

IT DEVOURS TORMENTED SOULS, AND GIVEN THE DUALITY OF YOUR NATURE, IT WOULD SEEM THAT YOU APPEAR TO BE QUITE THE DELICACY. There was a hint of smugness in the cat's voice that struck a familiar chord with him. It was the same tone he used when sizing up a potential foe.

"So it's a big bug then? It'll go squish just fine. I can beat it." Ranma said with an infuriatingly cocky smirk

NOT AS YOU ARE NOW. Said the cat matter-of-factly.

BUT I SUPPOSE THAT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE.

"Why not?!"

YOU SHALL SEE.

"See what?"

I AM GOING TO APPEAR BEFORE YOU, DO NOT BE AFRAID. No sooner had the cat finished speaking there appeared in the air in front of Ranma what looked to be tears from claws...big ones. An inky black shape poured from the wound it had made in reality. Ranma's teeth began to chatter loudly as he realized he was staring into the eyes of the largest cat he had ever seen sitting on it haunches swishing it's tail to and fro like a pendulum.

DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED BOY, THIS IS HOW YOU CHOOSE TO PERCEIVE ME.

Ranma stammered out a reply. "Bu-bu-but I hate cats, why would I want to see one?"

PERHAPS IT IS BECAUSE YOU WERE BORN TO BE A HUNTER OF MEN...OR MAYBE YOU ARE NOT AS BENEVOLENT A PERSON AS YOU WOULD HAVE EVERYONE BELIEVE. CATS ARE THE CRUELEST OF NATURES CREATIONS YOU KNOW.

The cat looked like it was going to say something else, but at that very moment the dream eater shot a thick black substance at Ranma's feet. He felt his body go numb as the umbral webbing worked its way up to his shoulders stopping just below his neck. It was as though the strength had been ripped from his muscles. He looked at the cat, and nearly choked as he saw that the impossibly large was seated on its haunches and grinning at him as errant bits of shadow wafted off of its back and tail.

I CERTAINLY EXPECTED MORE OF THE GREAT SAOTOME RANMA. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? FIGHT! The cat yelled at him.

Ranma nodded and powered up his considerable Chi, enough power to slay a god. The Spiders web melted away as his aura sprang gloriously forth.

But something was wrong.

"I've never drawn this much power before!" He thought to himself.

"THIS IS THE GLOAMING...THE BELIEFS TO WHICH YOU SO DESPERATELY CLING TODO NOT APPLY HERE BOY" the cat said with a fanged _grin._

"So It won't hurt if I cut loose then huh SOUNDS GOOD TA ME!" with that Ranma charged the _spider,_ battle aura blazing like a thousand suns. The spider trying again and again to snare him with its webs but to no avail, as Ranma weaved in and out between the smoky strands of adhesive.

"_**MY, YOU ARE AN ENERGETIC LITTLE THING AREN'T YOU?"**_ Said the spider.

Ranma brought his considerable aura to bear forming a shimmering blue-gold ball of ki into existence between his palms, life energy arcing up and down the length of his arms.

"So you like energetic do ya? WELL HERE'S ALL THE ENERGY YER GONNA GET FROM ME YOU EIGHT-LEGGED FREAK! TAKE THIS…MOKO TAKABISHA!

A massive beam of ki lanced from his hands, the backwash incinerating his sleeves up to the shoulders. He saw sparkles of light at the edge of his vision and new that he had put everything he had in to one all or nothing shot. He would be in no position to retaliate if his gamble failed.

He grinned as the immensely powerful beam blew through the ethereal arachnid like a hot knife through butter, a sick soupy black substance oozing from the gaping wound.

The ki blast rapidly grew weaker and died off as a shower of residual superheated air molecules drifted lazily in the aftermath of what had been the most powerful blast he had ever thrown. He fell to his knees gasping for breath as he was no longer able to muster the strength to stand. He heard the laughter of The Cat behind him.

IMPRESSIVE BOY, MOST IMPRESSIVE…BUT I FEAR IT WAS NOT ENOUGH, LOOK BEHIND YOU!

Ranma whipped his head to where he was sure there had only been the charred remains of the giant spider, but there it stood it mandibles clicking chitinously and looking hungrier than ever.

"_**MY MY, I AM IMPRESSED, YOU WILL INDEED BE THE FINEST FEAST I HAVE HAD IN A SOUND MILLENNIA! I CAN'T WAIT TO BEGIN DEVOURING YOUR DELICIOUS SOUL." **_Said the spider as it fired yet another hazy strand of webbing at Ranma this time connecting with his chest. His body went numb as whatever it was he had been hit with spread from his chest to encase his extremities.

"What the- I can't move!" He looked to that cat and saw it was still just sitting there swishing its tail "Aren't you going to help me?"

I MAY YET, BUT I WANT SOMETHING FROM YOU FIRST.

The spider was getting closer. Ranma could see the acidic venom dripping from its fangs and sizzling as it hit the stone walkway.

"What do you want? Help me please!" Ranma was getting frantic as he struggled helplessly at his bonds "I can't die like this!"

The cat bared it's teeth in a grotesquely feline version of a smile. DON'T WORRY BOY, IT'S NOTHING SO LARGE YOU'LL BE UNABLE TO PAY MY PRICE.

"JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT AND GET IT OVER WITH!" Ranma screamed.

I MERELY WISH FOR YOU TO GRANT ME A PIECE OF YOURSELF AND FOR YOU TO ADHERE TO A CODE MORE ANCIENT AND POWERFUL THAN EITHER OF US.

"AND JUST WHAT CODE IS THAT!" the spider was getting a little too close for comfort.

A LIFE SAVED IS A LIFE OWNED, IN SHORT YOU WILL GO ABOUT LIVING YOUR LIFE UNTIL I HAVE NEED OF YOU, BUT WHEN I CALL IN THE FAVOR YOU WILL SUBMIT TO MY COMMAND UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS THE DEBT IS REPAID. YOU WILL HAVE OTHER DUTIES IN THE MEAN TIME.

"LIKE WHAT!" Ranma yelled as he saw the dream eater's venomous fangs clicking together in a furious staccato, like the march of a thousand soldiers. It was maddening to watch as it strode purposefully toward him, savoring its catch.

YOU WILL BE THE ARBITER OF MY WILL IN YOUR PLANE OF EXISTENCE, MY ATTACK DOG IF YOU WILL.

"WHADDAYA MEAN BY ATTACK DOG, I AIN'T NOBODYS STOOGE!" Ranma yelled still struggling but unable to even move his shoulders.

I'LL HAVE AN OCCASIONAL ODD JOB FOR YOU HERE AND THERE, BUT SOMETIMES I MAY REQUIRE YOU TO MAKE A CORRECTION TO THE MYRIAD INEFFICIENCIES OF YOUR RACE.

"Corrections?" Ranma replied not liking where this was going at all

"YOU FIND OUT WHEN THE TIME COMES, BUT IF I MAY THAT BEAST IS GETTING AWFULLY CLOSE." The Cat finished with a grin.

The spider picked Ranma up and prepared to sink it's fangs into his body._** OH YESSSSS, SO YOUNG, SO TENDER. I HAVEN'T SMELLED ANYTHING SO SWEET IN EONSSSSS.**_

Ranma screamed "ALRIGHT ALRIGHT! I ACCEPT! NOW HELP ME GODAMMIT!"

The cat laughed REMEMBER BOY, YOU ALWAYS KEEP YOUR PROMISES. then he roared DROP HIM FOUL ONE, HE HAS BECOME MINE THROUGH THE WILL OF THE OLD ONES. YOU WILL HEED MY DECREE!

Ranma flinched as he felt the spider's fangs caressing his skin, as though in consideration. He then breathed a sigh of relief as he felt himself lowered to ground in front of the vorpal arachnid. _**BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU THIS MORSEL...YOU WERE BETTER OFF DEAD.**_ There was a whisper of air, and the spider was gone.

The cat padded over to Ranma's prone form and bit into his shoulder eliciting a cry of pain from the immobilized martial artist. WITH THIS EMBRACE YOU ARE MINE UNTIL SUCH A TIME ARRIVES WHEN I NO LONGER HAVE NEED OF YOUR SERVICE. BE GONE FROM MY SIGHT.

"WAI-" Ranma vanished in a puff of smoke.

The cat's form then shifted and realigned into the shape of a tall thin man comprised entirely of shadows, with the exception of his glowing catlike eyes and ghost white face.

"You appear to have done well for yourself, old friend." The man turned and beheld a beautiful woman wearing an elegant dress that had a web like pattern that shifted like evening shadows. She probably would have been considered a classic beauty if it weren't for the fact that she had two additional pairs of arms.

The man shrugged his shoulders and smiled, showing a mouthful of razor sharp teeth as he did so. "Well, I do SO hate to disappoint, though it is a relief to see you haven't lost your flare for cheap theatrics. But honestly, what do you think of him Willow?"

The spider lady shot him a dark look "He is most assuredly a fine choice, but I would not try to progress him too quickly Bartholomew, he has the potential to walk in the presence of shadows darker than ourselves and call them peers."

Bartholomew laughed bodily and waved his hands in front of his face in a placating gesture. "You are sharp as ever, my dear. For one so young to have progressed down the path to power on his own is quite a feat."

Willow laughed and replied. "Too _true,_ but I warn you again tread carefully with this one. His potential is vast, and that makes him equally enticing to the others.

Bartholomew stopped smiling. "He will not disappoint me."

"How can you be so sure." Willow asked with a tired grin

"I will remove any obstacles in his path."

"Obstacles?"

"Wait see old friend. Wait and see." Bartholomew faded out of existence with an echoing laugh.

123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123123

Ranma awoke with a shout that was quickly stifled with a mouthful of water provided by one Tendo Akane.

"Honestly Ranma, why do you always have to try and wake the whole house when you have a bad dre-" she stopped short when she saw the steam coming off of her now female fiancé. The look in her eyes told of many bad things about to happen if she didn't leave right now. "I think I should be going." She turned to leave.

Ranma snarled "Stop right there Akane!"

Akane froze. Alarm klaxons were screaming in her head "GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!"

Ranma was across the room before she could blink. She moved to defend against the grab she barely even saw coming, but it was effortlessly knocked aside.

She gasped as she felt a hand close around her throat.

"I'm tired of this Akane. Really and truly tired, so tired in fact I'm not quite sure I care about what happens to you in the next few minutes. Hell, Shampoo could crash through the wall right now and attempt to smash your fucking head in and I'm really not so sure if I would do anything to stop her. So the next time you feel entitled to hit me for some imagined slight remember this."

She slammed Akane into the wall with enough force to knock the wind out of her

_"_You will never be good enough to stop me from hurting you if I chose to do so. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"You wouldn't dare Ranma!" She winced as there was another squeeze of her windpipe.

"Ah-ah-ah you aren't allowed to call me that anymore. That name is to be used only by people I trust, and quite frankly I don't trust you...fuck it I don't even like you. You're nothing but a violent egomaniacal bitch that has done nothing but torture me since day one. So when we go to school today you aren't going to speak to me, say my name... hell don't even look in my direction." she pulled her close so they were nose to nose. "Now get out of my room."

Akane had never moved so fast in her life. It was like she had been reduced to a panicked animal, like her feet had been granted a mind of their own. She did not stop until she had reached the dojo.

Akane had left in such a hurry she never saw the glazed look come over Ranma-chan's features, almost as if she was waking from a dream.

"What happened?"

ONLY WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE. said the cat in an amused tone.

"Oh gods what did you do?"

I HAVE REMOVED AN OBSTACLE. THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER YOU BASTARD! AAAUGH!" Ranma's senses were flooded with a pain so intense he almost passed out.

HAHAHAHAHA DOWN BOY! SHE IS AN OBSTACLE, I WILL HAVE TO REMOVE ALL DISTRACTIONS FROM YOUR LIFE IF YOU ARE TO BE OF ANY USE TO ME AT ALL

Ranma was slowly recovering. "What did you do to me?"

THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO DOGS WHO SNAP AT THEIR MASTERS.

"Master?" He writhed in pain as his brain was still hurting from The Cat's last disagreement.

DON'T YOU REMEMBER OUR DEAL BOY? BUT I SUPPOSE I COULD ALLOW FOR A LITTLE MORE AUTONOMY ON YOUR PART, ON ONE CONDITION OF COURSE.

"And what would that be?"

LET ME BE FREE TO PLAY WHEN I WANT, IT'S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I'VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO INDULGE IN A PROPER HUNT.

"If I do, no more headaches?"

OF COURSE.

"Then I guess we have a deal."

RANMA MY BOY, THIS LOOKS TO BE THE START OF A WONDERFUL PARTNERSHIP. NOW TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR.

"Yes, My Master."

VERY GOOD BOY, YOU LEARN QUICKLY, NOW SLEEP, AND FORGET. The Cat said with a snort, as Ranma's eye rolled back into his head and was out before his head hit the pillow.

END CHAPTER ONE

Hey guys I decided to give chapter one a quasi-extensive rewrite and flesh out the relationship between Ranma and Bartholomew a.k.a. The Cat. This is the first of a couple of rewrites and any suggestions you guys might have for Dark Counsel member would be of immense help.

So R&R and tell me what you think

Mika the Raven


	3. Breathe Deep

Between Asleep and Awake

a Ranma 1/2 Fanfic

by Mika the Raven

Disclaimer: NOT RICH, DON'T SUE, DIDN'T DO IT FOR THE MONEY.

Chapter 2: Breathe Deep

There are many things that we as human beings simply cannot comprehend. Be it because of size, or even due to willful ignorance. There are other things that we do not perceive because we have been blinded by society, religion, or upbringing. So when in a rare instance of clarity we see the unseen, It hits us with such ferocity that our minds will usually forget what happened immediately to keep our preconceptions of reality intact. For what is reality but a firm belief that the world works according to rules applied by whatever Gods we choose to believe in. But the simplest truth in all realities is thus...Rules are made to be broken.

This applies to unreality as well. The Gloaming is filled with creatures and their creators, neither seen nor heard in the waking world, ruling unopposed over the misconceptions of what those more powerful than they allow mortals to perceive as real. But change is coming, as it always does, to bring an end to an age, and let rise to a new.

There is a place within the Gloaming where such creatures meet in good faith and charity, a place where whatever rivalries or outright conflicts between them take a back burner to the more important matters at hand. It is a dark hall that is both nowhere and everywhere. This is where the old gods meet.

At the main podium there stands a man made of shadows, his bone white face and catlike eyes conveying to all his glee that the topic of discussion is one of his own. His name is Bartholomew. His name is The Cat. He is the god of hunters as well as the hunted. And as his name implies he is merely toying with his comrades, waiting for the opportunity to strike the killing blow. But for now he listens as the topic at hand concerns the fate of one Ranma Saotome.

"Bartholomew you were ordered to kill him. Why does he yet breathe?" Said a thing comprised almost entirely of writhing vermin.

"Why have you defied the will of this counsel so?" It added with venom, the rest of the counsel joining with cries of outrage, and anger.

Bartholomew shot the mass of insects a lidded look that silenced most of his decriers. "Need I remind you that the only reason I even attend these inane council meetings is because I find them to be an unending display of incomparable stupidity where not one of you in EONS, has had anything even remotely sensible to say. So until any of you manage to accomplish this, it would behoove you to keep well out of my affairs!" Bartholomew thundered to the now properly culled councilmen.

Willow the spider lady was not known for her involvement in such proceedings but in rare instances she would lean one way or the other so long as the topic interested her. And choosing her moment she struck as quickly as she would when she was hunting.

"My esteemed colleagues, I have but one question to ask. What threat does this young mortal pose to ones such as us, who have risen below reality to establish our influence over the waking world? Yes the boy is the embodiment of Chaos, so what? So what if this station makes him more powerful than most of us combined. There will still be a limit placed on him, just as there is one placed on every one of you, or have you forgotten that the more power you have the greater the price you pay?" She made a grand sweeping gesture as she said this.

Save but a few of you, I can recall every council meeting that resulted in every one of you becoming an Aspect. Would you deny this boy his rightful place among us?" She paused to glance around the chamber, taking in the shamefaced expressions of most of the seat Aspects.

"I know why some of you would. It is because he has gone beyond your areas of influence. You cannot touch him and that scares you! I have met this young man and sampled his delicious soul, and found that he is most worthy." With that she rose and spun on her heel as she left the chamber.

At his point, Bartholomew was laughing uncontrollably inside his mind, but his face was the pinnacle of poise.

"On that note my friends, I will soon be bringing another Shadow to walk among us very soon. I suggest you be ready."

With that said he disappeared in a cloud of darkness...

001001101001010110101110100101010010011001011001100110011010001100101001100101

Bartholomew appeared in his lair moments later, and checked around to see if anyone had been there while he'd been at counsel. Willow appeared behind him seconds later, to his surprise. He shot her a sideways glance.

"To what, my dear do I owe this pleasure?" Bartholomew said as he poured himself a cup of a viscous back bubbling liquid from an ornate bottle that had been on the table.

Willow cast him a sidelong glance "Well I merely wished to congratulate an old friend on a battle well fought."

Bartholomew glared at her disbelievingly.

"Well that and Lord Dais has made his displeasure with your course of action known." Willow finished with a wistful sigh, not bothering to notice the incredulous look that Bartholomew was giving her "It was such a good plan too."

The tall thin man padded across the room towards a bookcase, shaking the drink in his hand slightly.

"And since when has the opinions of that pompous collection of scrap mattered to me even in the slightest my dear?" He scoffed as he scanned the myriad tomes. "AHAH! Here it is."

He pulled the book in question down from the shelf it had gone ignored on for a nigh century, and set it upon the table in front of Willow. She opened it and flipped through the first few pages.

"What is this?!" She exclaimed as she looked from the book to Bartholomew "They're blank."

Bartholomew laughed bodily as he regarded his semi-unwelcome guest. "Of course they are my dear." He said as he managed to stifle his laughter to snickers. "This book is not meant to be read by you or I."

The multi-armed madam blinked as she considered his answer, then a look of comprehension came across her features.

"Old Ones… This is a Therion Grimoire isn't it? You're going to let the boy read it aren't you?" She slammed the cover shut and joined Bartholomew in his mirth. "I do believe I will join you in one of those drinks, old friend."

Bartholomew poured said drink, all further conversation devolving into a steady stream of vividly detailed reminiscences about days long past.

010101010010100101010101001001001001010101010101101001011100100110001010010101

Ranma Saotome woke wet, as he usually did when his father would throw him out of the window for their morning spar.

"DAMMIT POP, FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE I WOULD LIKE TO SLEEP IN ON A SUNDAY!"

"SHUT UP AND FIGHT BOY! YOU SHAME YOUR POOR FATHER WITH YOUR _GIRLISH_ WHINING, I DIDN'T RAISE YOU TO BE A SISSY!"

The now female Ranma charged her father with a killing intent etched onto her face. It was not a look she wore often but she was tired of being harangued every hour of every day, and in a feat that proved just how she felt this morning, she knocked out her father with one punch and walked inside.

"Oh my, is Uncle Saotome going to alright out there in the rain Ranma?" Kasumi said as she set some rice and miso in front of the glowering martial artist.

"He'll be fine Kasumi..." Ranma said in a growl "He's just washing off the shame of being beaten by a GIRL." The last being shouted at the slowly recovering parental unit that was Saotome Genma.

She didn't say anything else as she finished her breakfast in silence and grabbed her pack for school.

"Have you seen Akane this morning Kasumi, she's usually down here yelling at me an' Pop for being noisy."

Kasumi paused in gathering up the plates Ranma had used for her meal.

"Actually Ranma, Akane left very early this morning, She said she forgot her homework at Sayuri's house." She said as she finished cleaning.

Ranma was mollified with the explanation, and left through the back gate

Kasumi watched as she left and idly wondered if something was wrong with Ranma, but decided to ask her when she came home.

Ranma walked sullenly along the fence with her head down and her hands in her pockets slowly letting the rain soak her clothes. She had always like the rain before her curse, and she was trying to enjoy it now. But there was something horribly wrong with today. It was like the shadows seemed long than normal, as if they were merely lying in wait to grab some unsuspecting passerby and carry them off to Kami-sama knew where. As she finished that thought there was a sharp sudden pain in her head that was gone almost as fast as it arrived.

"I was wondering when you were gonna come back." She said to her apparent master.

"WHY IT'S NOT LIKE YOU MISSED ME OR ANYTHING." The Cat replied with an amused voice.

"So what do you want now?" She said with no shortage of malice in her voice.

"OH NOTHING LIKE THAT I'M JUST...HOW DO YOU MORTALS PUT IT...OH YES, I'M JUST ALONG FOR THE RIDE." The Cat was laughing as he said this.

"What are you talking about?" Ranma said with a sense of foreboding that was no doubt her danger sense going off.

"JUST SAYING THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO TURN AROUND." Said the cat with a giggle.

Ranma complied and as she turned around she heard the last thing she wanted to hear today.

**RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!**

A/N Hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it, I'm very much trying to avoid the whole ANC (that's ANNOYING NEW CHARACTER for all you noobs) curse, but since most of my characters ARE GODS I guess it's ok. CH 3. Will be along within the week.


	4. Staying Alive

Mika the Raven Proudly Presents

Between Asleep and Awake

By Mika the Raven

Disclaimer: Not rich, Don't Sue

All Characters are property of Takahashi Rumiko-Sama, except for the ones that have sprung forth from mine own mind. Steal them at your own peril.

Chapter 3: Staying Alive

RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!

Ranma launched herself off the wall she had been walking on just before it erupted into a cloud of flying rocks and rebar. Skidding to a stop some yards away in a ready combat stance that totally telegraphed how unprepared for the attack she had been despite the Cats warning. She focused her attention to Ryouga who while without his umbrella was managing to stave off his transformation by the sheer amount of heat his battle aura was letting off. He locked eyes with Ranma-Chan and spoke with nearly unbridled anger, his voice a low growl.

"Ranma did you think I wouldn't find out? You know as well as I that Akane tells P-Chan everything!" How could you betray her trust like that, HUH?!" Nearly faster than Ranma could track he was upon her raining down a flurry of blows that the aquatransexual martial artist could barely block or evade. It was taking all she had not to buckle under the pressure of Ryouga's relentless onslaught.

"How could you hurt her like that! If you never loved her like she told me you said why string her along?" As he finished speaking he fired a right cross at Ranma-chan's jaw that sent her flying into and destroying what was left of the wall that lined the street.

Ranma-Chan was dumbfounded. "WHAT 'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU JACKASS?! I HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN HER TODAY!" She yelled at the lost boy.

Ryouga didn't pause in his onslaught, his immense fury granting him speed and stamina not usually available to him, leaving Ranma with no other option but defense as strike after relentless strike made it through.

"DON'T EVEN TRY TO LIE TO ME RANMA, I SAW THE BRUISES ON HER NECK! YOU TRIED TO KILL HER!!!" Ryouga bellowed as hit foot planted itself in Ranma-chan's gut, and followed up with a back fist that sent her rolling down the street.

Ranma-chan made it to a standing position just in time to block an overhead strike that had enough force on it to crater the sidewalk under her feet.

"EVEN AFTER ALL YOU'VE PUT ME THROUGH I BELIEVED THAT DEEP DOWN YOU WERE AN HONORABLE PERSON, BUT WITH WHAT YOU'VE DONE I CAN NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" The lost boy crossed his arms in front of him, his battle aura shifting in color from green to blood red. "THIS IS OUR FINAL BATTLE SAOTOME, TAKE THIS! HIBIKI-RYU SECRET TECHNIQUE **JIGENZA GOUMON HA!**" The crimson energy gathered itself in the lost boys forearms as he raised them over his head, and quickly smashed them into the pavement unleashing an immense wave of nearly molten concrete at its dumbstruck target.

Ranma swatted a large amount of the fiery debris away from himself, the extreme heat of the attack having caused the rain to boil resulting in a painful transformation, but was wholly unprepared for the burst of raw power that that knocked him through yet another wall and reduced his clothes to tatters.

'He's really trying to kill me because he thinks I've done something to Akane, but I haven't seen her since dinner yesterday.' She thought to herself as the rain cooled her skin and reverted her to a female state. 'I would never hurt her though, she's too important to me.'

She heard the laughter of The Cat, the master that she had sold herself to for the measly price of saving her own life. A price she cursed herself again for paying. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S IMPORTANT BOY. SHE DOESN'T RESPECT YOU, SHE GET'S IN THE WAY OF YOUR FIGHTS CONSTANTLY. YOU'RE MUCH BETTER OFF WITHOUT HER. BESIDES YOU DIDN'T HURT HER, I DID.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH SHE MEANS TO ME!" Ranma screamed at the Cat in his mind.

SHE LOST THE FIGHT SHE CHALLENGED YOU TO WHEN SHE DECIDED TO AWAKEN YOU SO RUDELY, AND I DO NOT BROOK DISPRESPECT IN ANY FASHION. NOW, DISPATCH THIS DIRECTIONLESS FOOL SO THAT WE MAY CONTINUE ON OUR WAY, I HAVE MANY THINGS FOR YOU TO DO TODAY." The Cat finished smugly.

"Yes My Master." Ranma said with almost no emotion, marveling at how the words left her lips almost of their own volition. She would find her way out of this pit she had dug for herself even if it killed her. She was nobodies dog. With that thought she picked herself up out of the wreckage that she had created with her flight. She let her own battle aura burst into the visible spectrum absentmindedly noting the blackish tinge around the corona of her considerable life force. She settled into a stance that favored joint locks and submission holds that she and her father had picked up in the former Soviet Union, her face devoid of emotion.

"Ryouga I'll tell you this once. I have never hurt Akane any more than she has allowed herself to be hurt. She claims to be a martial artist, which she is only just barely. She challenged me when she woke me up with that pail of water and she lost. That having been said, if you choose to remain in my way or continue to attack me I will be forced to retaliate with the utmost of my abilities. Do you understand." She finished by leveling an ice cold glare in the direction of the lost boy.

Ryouga could not believe what he was hearing, not that he was hearing very much at all in his enraged state. Ranma had just said he defeated Akane in a challenge, he understood that surely he did, but he remembered seeing the deep purple bruises on her neck as though someone had tried to squeeze the life out of her. All remaining ability to think coherently left with that thought.

"COME ON YOU BASTARD I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HER! I'LL KILL YOU!" He charged Ranma again with the killing intent flowing off of him in waves. The asphalt was steaming in the wake of his steps.

Ranma made no move to intercept Ryouga but merely waited for him to reach her and she effortlessly redirected his wildly thrown haymaker into an aikido throw that put him on his back, refusing to let go of his hand she used it to turn him over onto his stomach and applied pressure to his elbow while pulling backward on his neck, stretching it to the breaking point.

"As I said Ryouga." she purred into his ear, while he thrashed ineffectually under her weight "I will not hesitate to remove you from my path if you continue to attack me. I did not hurt Akane, she met her match just as you have met yours. You have no hope of ever beating me."

She hit a pressure point on the back of his neck and grasped the back of his head by the hair, then she almost casually slammed his face into the pavement making a small crater as she did so. She got up and started to walk away looking back over her shoulder as she left him. She saw that he had transformed into P-Chan in his defeat.

"You had better get yourself very lost pig-boy, because if I see you around the dojo anytime soon...I'll kill you." With that she turned and continued down the path to Furinkan.

P-Chan's last thought before he lapsed into unconsciousness was. "Ranma's eyes...They were RED!"

Bartholomew could barely contain his mirth as he dismissed the crystal that let him communicate with Chaos. This was going to be too much fun. He had never encountered a being with such a knack for making enemies, and not just any enemies. He saw the foes that Ranma would make would hunt for him his entire human life.

"A fitting existence, but I suspect he'll soon give them all a reason to fear change, After all change is just another aspect of chaos." He said to no one. He suddenly frowned as he remembered the black tinge that had ringed his battle aura. This was most interesting, most interesting indeed. A black aura was rare in humans and they were a sign of a human gaining the ability to rise below and take up an aspect of the unseen. But it was too soon, much too soon. He would have to keep this information from everyone, Willow included.

"You are very impressive for one so young boy, yes, very impressive indeed."

Where he had been standing only a large cat remained, and The Cat bounded off in the direction of the Counsel. He would have to feed them some believable misinformation to keep them off his tracks. This would take some planning and he had very little time with which to do it in.

"BE ON YOUR GUARD BOY, THOUGH I PLAN GREAT AND TERRIBLE THINGS FOR YOUR FUTURE, I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHOSE ATTENTION YOU HAVE GARNERED."

The mirthless laughter that echoed in Ranma's mind left a feeling of dread so palpable that all she could do was shudder

"What have I gotten myself into?"

END CHAPTER THREE

A/N hey guys. I'm making great strides in revising this story into a much better whole. The name of Ryouga's attack means "Dimension of Bladed Torture". Pretty cool huh. I have big plans for our resident Lost Boy. As always R&R's are always welcome


	5. Show Me The Money

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

by Mika the Raven

Chapter 4: Show Me the Money

The Gloaming is a place where many amazing and outlandish things happen at the same time, which makes it hectic for a dimension with no real ruling caste or set order. The beings that dwell there take this into account, but many take it for granted. Many more ignore this fact entirely and live by a set of checks and balances, or power brokering. Today it just so happens that one of them has managed to greatly anger another whose power dwarfs his own. But this being is not without his resources.

**BOOM!!!! **

He had never been so scared in his entire unlife. Soff the Monkey King tried with every ounce of his essence to escape his pursuer. He had no doubt that he would get away as it was his specialty, but some days it proved just a little more difficult to accomplish. One would not think that among all of the beings in the Gloaming this portly apelike creature was the King of Cowards. He knew implicitly that there was a time fast approaching that he would be forced to take a stand and fight, He also knew just as well that today was not that day.

"**SOFF, THOU FECKLESS BASTARD GET BACK HERE! THOU HAST GONE ENTIRELY TOO FAR THIS DAY! THOU HAST STOLEN A RARE AND PRECIOUS ITEM FROM DAIS AND HE WILL HAVE IT BACK!" **Shouted his assailant, a thin a wiry construct of flesh and metal, one of Dais the Powerful's minor golems Dais's own voice speaking through it.

Soff waved his prize over his shoulder while working hard to maintain his advantage. "What, you mean this old thing? I just came over to borrow some sugar, but now my mommy will be soooooo upset with me she just might give me a spanking. Of course she'd have to do a way better job of trying to keep up." He juked to left to avoid another of the numerous fleshy golems that were getting harder to dodge.

"**DAIS WOULD SEE THEE ROASTED AND THY ENTRAILS EMBLAZONED UPON HIS THRONE!!!" **The golem bellowed at Soff's retreating figure.

He turned and started running backwards and spoke with an air of feigned respect "Oh but Milord, I am having a much more enjoyable time eluding your half-witted attempts to corner me. Ooh watch your step Sir." he said as he back flipped over another golem that had flanked and gotten behind him, laughing as the two horrors collided messily.

"Oh too bad Sir." Said Soff with a grimace of fake sympathy "Well Milord, I'm off to continue my work as a constant thorn in your side, I do hope that we can still be friends." He turn again and took off at top speed, jumping and ricocheting off any surface on which his feet could find purchase, his prize securely fastened to his bandoleer.

**"SOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFF!!! DAIS WILL HAVE THY HEAD ON A PIKE FOR THIS! THOU SHALT NOT BE ABLE TO ELUDE DAIS FOREVER! DOST THOU HEAR ME?!" **

Dais withdrew his control over his fleshy sentries and flung the scrying pool across his throne room with a thought. He had been humiliated one too many times by that uncouth ape. This was the last time he would allow himself to be made a fool of. His course of action decided upon he called forth a COM crystal.

"**RATHMAR." **He hated being forced to rely on such an incompetent, but he had his uses. The copper and steel plates that composed his "body" grinded together loudly as a shadowy not quite concealed face appeared on the crystalline surface.

"Yessss Lord Daissss?"

**"DAIS HATH A TASK FOR THEE."**

The Waking World

Ranma arrived in class late as usual, having had to actually put on a school uniform because of his earlier brawl with Ryouga, but shot the teacher a look that just screamed "Don't fuck with me today." He took his usual seat in the back and stared out the window ignoring the stares and whispers.

"I hate this place." He thought to himself "I should probably leave town and forget about everything here."

The sound of the sliding door caught his attention and he looked up just in time to see Akane walking towards him only to veer off and take a seat at the other side of the room. He noted the small, but myriad bruises on her neck and face. Those were going to cause him some trouble.

But she said nothing, and was pointedly avoiding his gaze.

He dozed off as Ms. Ninomiya began her lesson, unable to shake the feeling that something horrible was about to happen.

KENDO CLUBROOM

"Surely you jest, The Foul Sorcerer Saotome hath injured my fierce Tigress?" Tatewaki Kuno said as he paced back and forth in the Kendo club room. "On what grounds did he commit such an affront to her personage?" He turned to ask his informant.

"2000 yen Kuno-baby." Nabiki Tendo held out her hand with an expectant look, her bottom lip starting to quiver. Ranma was going to pay. No one hurt her family. She briefly wondered why Ranma would do such a thing, but immediately waved it off. He was going to pay for his indiscretion. She had graduated two years ago, but was at home relaxing for the summer. It had pretty much been business as usual until this morning

Kuno forked over the cash noting the errant tear running down the left side of Nabiki's face. He really did hate when she did this, but he abided it knowing that her assumptions of his ignorance and her frustrating attempts to manipulate his baser instincts kept her rates low and his wallet empty, but it was worth it for there were few as well informed as Tendo Nabiki.

" Akane went to wake up Saotome this morning, and he just attacked her as soon as he opened his eyes." She was leaving out the circumstances of exactly HOW Akane had woken him up, but Kuno-baby was too dense to realize it. Sensing the time was right to strike the final blow, she pulled the plug. "Oh, the tragedy! My poor helpless sister has been viciously brutalized by that awful boy! Who knows what will happen if WE should provoke Ranma's wrath? You're our only hope, Kuno!" Said Nabiki with crocodile tears in full force.

Kuno sniffed disdainfully; taking the hysterics for the charade they were, knowing Nabiki surely had more to tell him "Surely, Nabiki Tendo Thou dost realize the righteous wrath of the Blue thunder hath been hereto unable to long stand against the treachery of Saotome's dark magics." Kuno said while rising to stand.

Kuno had been becoming more and more aware lately that while mighty indeed, his practice of the divine sport was too obsolescent to counter the seemingly endless array of new enchantments, and impressive physical prowess that Saotome brought to bear upon him. The realization had hit him harder than any punch or kick his Twin Goddesses had ever landed on his puissant self. It had forced him to re-dedicate himself to his training and the pursuit of Zen through the sword. Fortunately it had the side-effect of improving his control over his more "Irrational Tendencies"…most of the time.

"What dost thou suggest I do?" said Kuno offhandedly fixing her with his standard "I hate you" glare.

"Ugh, 2000 yen." Nabiki said holding out her hand once more the last of her tears disappearing without a trace.

"Damnable woman! The Noble House of Kuno's coffer doth weep at thy ambitions. Here." He forked over the cash anyway.

"Thanks Kuno-baby. Challenge him to a match in which YOU set the terms." Nabiki said with a smirk.

"Dost thou care to elaborate?" Kuno said lifting an eyebrow.

Nabiki exhaled bodily. "Every time you fight Saotome you just run up to him and, MAYBE get a swing off before he sends you packing. So why don't you challenge him to a fight you can control, one that has rules, one where ANYTHING doesn't go." She grabbed a bokken off of a wall mount "Oh I don't know something like…kendo?

"Surely a foul sorcerer like Saotome doth know the rules of the divine sport?" Kuno said looking away towards his pictures.

"Listen up Kuno-baby because this one's free. Ranma's dad trained him in the martial arts almost to the exclusion of using weapons because he thinks they are a crutch. Saotome CAN use weapons but as you said kendo is a sport, and to Ranma an art that is only for show is not worth his time." Nabiki said finally serious.

"Can you attest your surety of this?" Said the would-be samurai.

"Kuno-baby I'm almost one hundred percent certain that the ONLY exposure to your art Saotome has up to this point is you, and he believes your skills laughable at best."

Said Nabiki as she moved in for the kill. "I'd be willing to bet my family's house on Ranma being ignorant about kendo."

"Thy idea doth possess merit Nabiki Tendo, and what mayhap, does The Blue Thunder get in return for Saotome's inevitable defeat?" Kuno asked in a rare showing of intelligence.

Nabiki just smirked. "You get my sister, of course…Kuno-baby?" She looked around, but Kuno was nowhere to be seen.

"I didn't think he was that fast." She shrugged. "Oh well."

Willow the Spider Queen watched as Bartholomew paced back and forth in his viewing room with a look of consternation on his face. She had been greatly amused when she found out that he had hired Soff to retrieve a certain item from Lord Dais, which was a risky gambit in and of itself. Soff had a tendency to bring trouble to his employers that often exceeded his usefulness, so unless one ABSOLUTELY had to have something you did not task The Monkey King with anything.

"My old friend you must calm yourself. Dais has no idea that you were behind this, and if nothing else this will make what we are trying to do worth the effort." Said Willow in a soothing tone.

Bartholomew looked at her with an uneasy smile that betrayed his mood.

"Worth the effort? Willow please, the Saotome boy's transition was never supposed to be effortless. I'm surprised he's gone THIS long without attracting the attention of the others. I mean seriously the boy is surrounded by an Amazon Shaman, a Shinobi mystic, and last but not least, not one but two GOD DAMNED GUARDIANS!!! Fortunately for us they seem to think that the Chaos he generates is the result of his ridiculous curse, but it's only a matter of time before they realize he is no longer human as I'm fairly certain he has yet to realize it himself." He exhaled heavily as he walked over to the small table where Willow was sitting and poured himself a drink from the vibrantly colored bottle that was sitting on top of it.

"And now I may have that rusty suit of armor after my ass because it is apparently too difficult to hire help that knows the meaning of the word "Subtle"." He tossed his drink back and threw the glass against the wall smiling as it shattered.

"Oh I know the meaning of the word Milord. It's an old English word synonymous with boring." Soff said as he landed next to Willow without a sound, eliciting a slight start from the six armed woman.

"And a How do you do to you too Milady." Said Soff as he bowed extravagantly.

"Bastard." Willow huffed.

"SOFF YOU JACKASS! I asked you for one thing. One. Simple. Thing. Discretion. I said if you could not easily attain what I asked for unnoticed you were to abort, but no! What do you go and do, I'll tell you! You go and alert the strongest being in the Gloaming to your presence and maybe, just maybe dragged him down on my ASS!!! Now PLEASE for the sake of your continued wellbeing, tell me you got what I sent you for." Bartholomew finished, the shadows that comprised his body twitching agitatedly.

Soff pulled the item in question from his bandoleer. "You know a little appreciation may be in order. Regardless of circumstance this was still quite difficult to procure." He turned the small thing in his hands.

It was a monocle, not especially ornate in any way. Bartholomew could not help but grin when he saw it, his concerns momentarily forgotten. The Eye of Eoss could see through any wall, and dispel any illusion. It also granted limited precognitive powers. This little piece of glass had brought down the Holy Roman Empire and was lost to history shortly thereafter, but now it was his, and he intended to use it.

Dais could wait.

Ranma was starting to get worried.

He'd been unable to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. The day had pretty much dragged along as slowly as any other boring day at school, the sun shining, birds chirping...

BOOM!

The science lab exploding. While abnormal it happened often enough.

He half expected some crazy asshole to barge into the classroom in a rather unconventional manner while shouting

"RANMA SAOTOME I CHALLENGE THEE TO A DUEL!"

Ranma looked over to the doorway to find none other than one Tatewaki Kuno breathing as though he'd just run a marathon.

"Queue one crazy asshole." Ranma stated matter-of-factly as he stood from his desk.

"Alright Kuno, let's go get this over with." He turned to exit through the window.

"HOLD SAOTOME!" Kuno shouted.

"For far too long thou hast decided the location and method of our many battles. We shall have our conflict in the dojo of mine family's estate one week from this day. Unless of course thou art not man enough to face the wrath of The Blue Thunder." Lightning peeled outside as he finished speaking, and he leveled his gaze at Ranma. "Well?"

Ranma sat back down. "Whatever Kuno."

"So thou hast accepted my challenge?" Kuno said arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, whatever." Ranma said as he sat back down.

"Then we shall meet in a week, you shall not see or hear from me until then." He turned and left leaving Ranma dumbstruck

"Weird." Ranma said returning his gaze to the window.

"Definitely weird."


	6. Rise and Shine

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by: Mika the Raven

Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Takahashi Rumiko-sama, with the exception of course those which are obviously mine.

Chapter 5: Rise and Shine

It waited.

'It' was the best pronoun possible for the being. Male, female, those were concepts that didn't mean much to it anymore. It barely remembered being human, once, long ago. It had been mortal then. Now, however, it was something far more, yet far less, but the trade was more than fair. It had power, and that was worth the loss of a few minor emotions, a few human joys. Power was emotion and joy enough.

Not that mortals were incapable of wielding power. The ones that did made the most wonderful of tools. A rare few wielded it dangerously, and even rarer still were those that were both dangerous and knowledgeable.

It remembered the day it had found this place in Nerima, studied the lines of power and destiny, and settled down to wait. The veils were weaker here. Fitting, for it knew the district well. It had dwelt here of old. Replacing the soul of one of the local inhabitants with its foul presence had been simple enough. It had only needed to find someone who had completely lost the will to live. Once it had done that it had laced its web with honey and waited for the flies.

They came. Even younger than it had expected, they came.

And the one called Saotome Ranma shone like a star.

It had immediately cast its net for the boy, and had made slow but gradual success. There was so much to work with, such latent power, and then things had gone poorly. Another mortal had arrived, and taken the boy under her protection, and she was a very dangerous and knowledgeable mortal indeed.

She hadn't known what the being was, but knew enough to be alerted to its presence upon her arrival, and had made a covenant with it.

A covenant that was worded thus: Leave the boy alone, or be driven from this plane.

It hadn't liked it. But it hadn't had much of a choice, and it had gotten a promise out of her to turn a blind eye to its other dealings. It was the kind of promise that couldn't be broken easily.

For a long time, it had hoped the dangerous mortal would abandon her interest in the boy. But that didn't seem to be happening. If anything, the bond between them got tighter.

And now it was painfully aware that the boy would probably be out of its reach forever if things continued this way.

It had come here for a purpose, a purpose for which it had gone rogue, and abandoned the council. They all thought it was stewing somewhere, or had been destroyed, which while not impossible was fairly difficult given its domain. It would see its plans to fruition, even if it wasn't in the way it would have chosen.

It stirred and rose, then, in the fortress of shade and shadow rising from the black-on-grey-on-white of the Gloaming, in a sort of photographic negative of the mortal world. Its haven mirrored the sunlit Nerima; save in the places where the being's will had altered it. The real Nerima didn't have a twisted citadel looming above it, towers and battlements clawing towards the sky. For the Gloaming was less static than the world of mortals, more responsive to the demands of those with power, and the dark hold of Shadowkeep had been raised in an instant from the blueprint of the being's soul.

It strode through the halls and corridors, past the trembling servants that it had pressed into service. Some were natives of the shadow realm, some had been captured and wrenched from other planes, and a rare few were mortals, trapped in an unending nightmare. Pitiful things, but useful. If nothing else, the delicious sense of fear that they exuded filled the citadel with a atmosphere pleasant to the being.

The path it took was followed by other eyes, too. Black shapes slipped to and fro, using the ceilings as highways and the walls as alleys, for Shadowkeep had been built to a geometry that would have most mortals gibbering madly as their feeble minds tried to comprehend what they saw. There were the servants, who were there to be afraid. And then there were the soldiers, who where there to inspire fear. It had built them, too; formed them from the stuff of the Gloaming or fused a hapless being into a more suitable form.

It swept down endless stairs - truly endless, for it was a simple trick to build in the infinite, here in the Gloaming - and emerged at a chamber at ground level. Formed an image in its mind. Projected, pierced the veil. Stepped, with a part of its essence, into the mortal world.

It looked around the room it found itself in, the comfortable, sunlit, cheery room, smiled slightly, and walked out to stand on the porch.

Ranma soon strolled past, as it had known he would, shopping bag full.

Hi, Ranma!" it said in an easy, familiar fashion, smiling, once more eying the ebb and flow of his ki with a covetous hunger. Such a potential slave...

Ranma grinned back, and waved.

No, Ranma was now no-one's slave. His will was too strong, his confidence too absolute. And now he was dangerous, at least in this world. The being could tear his soul to shreds with a thought if they both stood in the Gloaming, but in the sunlit Nerima Ranma had the edge.

For now.

Soon. Very soon.

As he watched the pigtailed martial artist walk down the path, Dr. Tofu smiled.

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Again he dreams…

Ranma was walking through the rain down a busy street, in a neighborhood that was both strange, and yet very familiar. It was the street that led to the Tendo dojo, but the people populating the street looked like cardboard cut-outs, not that they were flat they just didn't seem to move when he looked at them. He froze when he saw a giant panda swinging a sign post at a red-headed girl. The swing was moving just as slow as the rest of the world seemed to, except for the rain. The rain was coming down in a torrent the likes of which he had never seen. He closed his eyes as he heard his father knock the girl unconscious. He felt the world move under his feet as he did so.

When he again opened his eyes he was a she, and she was facing a long haired Akane Tendo in the dojo. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized what they were doing. The world shifted again and she was relegated to the sidelines, she didn't even bother to check and see if she was male again. She tried to call out to them, but no voice left her lips, so she silently prayed that things would go differently this time.

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Akane watched as the new girl, Ranma, warmed up across the mat from her. She decided she would go easy on her at first.

She charged.

Her first attack was effortlessly brushed away. Her second strike was caught in a reversal that put her painfully on her back, her opponent releasing her as she landed, then sent her tumbling across the dojo floor with a kick that felt like a charging bull elephant.

Akane struggled to her feet and ran forward, strikes pouring out of her. She used every attack she could think of, but was completely unable to touch the ghost that was Saotome Ranma. What was worse than her inability to strike her foe was the fact that Ranma looked bored.

She fired a right cross at an apparent opening in the redheads defense only to find herself flying through the air as her strike was effortlessly redirected.

"Clumsy," the new girl pronounced disdainfully as the long haired girl impacted the wall.

Kasumi and Nabiki appeared from nowhere and nodded in agreement.

"Oh my, She is so very clumsy." Kasumi said in a tone that did not match the angelic visage she wore

"Make sure you take care of her, I'm even willing to pay you to be her bodyguard. Look at the little shrimp. I don't know how she thinks she can carry the Tendo legacy with such pitiable skill." Nabiki added, a forked tongue sliding between her lips at regular intervals

"Oh my, Nabiki she is quite the little china doll isn't she?" Kasumi said with her eyes open showing bloody sockets.

"I am NOT!" she screamed back, trying to get the otherworldly appearance of her sisters out of her head. .

Ranma smiled unpleasantly, the grimace strangely out of character for her cute face. "You stupid, macho tomboy, why don't you just get the hint and leave me alone?" The redhead rushed the long-haired girl

Before Akane could react Ranma was airborne. Akane raised her hands to block, but as usual, Ranma was entirely too fast for her. There was a horrible snapping sound, and she felt herself crumple.

"See?" she dimly heard her fiancée whisper as she choked, trying vainly to breathe through her crushed throat.

"Do you see now, Akane?" The gleeful expression on Ranma's face chilled her to the core.

Her lungs were on fire, she couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, blood was choking her...

"Do you finally see?" Ranma repeated as her shoulders began to shake with barely restrained mirth.

Ranma's face melted in her dying vision, a ghost white countenance remained it its stead laughing maniacally as her vision finally faded to blackness.

Akane bolted upright, a strangled sob ripping free from her mouth. She hugged her knees as she began to sob quietly. She would not be getting any more sleep tonight

Ranma watched Akane writhe on the ground in front of him a shocked expression plastered to his face as he watched his female half laughing at his fiancés dying form.

"Do you finally see?" she repeated as her flesh began to fall away in disgusting clumps that hit the floor with a sick splat, her form quickly replaced by Bartholomew's shadowy form.

Akane's head lolled in his direction, and she stared at him, blood pouring from her mouth, eyes horrified and confused.

"R..an..maaa"

Akane gave a final, bubbling gurgle, convulsed, and then was still, her blood pooling beneath her from the mangled mess her neck had become. Ranma walked over to her, knelt beside her, Bartholomew's howling laughter fading into the background.

"Do you see Akane it's not my fault. I love you." He said as he caressed her cheek with his blood-stained hands.

Her eyes stared, glassy and still, at the moonlight.

Had he just killed her?

What had he just done?

Akane?

He stumbled backwards, shrieking. There was blood on his hands, on his feet, Akane's blood, he killed her...

Ranma bolted upright, a strangled sob ripping free from his mouth.

"What the fuck was that?!" he said aloud as he tried to catch his breath, feeling tears tracking their way down his face.

He looked at his hands half expecting to find Akane's blood still dripping off of them. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to forget what he had dreamed, and tried even harder to repress the feeling of excitement he had felt watching his fiancé die by his own hand. Then he remembered the shadow man. He had known the man's name though now it eluded him as his dream retreated back into his subconscious, but his face was painted on his soul.

Ranma shuddered for he would not be getting any sleep tonight either.

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The week leading up to the final duel between Saotome and Kuno had passed with surprising quickness, and startlingly enough without incident, strange and horrifying dreams notwithstanding. This led many to believe that something extremely out of the ordinary was looming on the horizon.

Kuno, true to his word had not bothered Ranma, Akane or the Pig-tailed girl, and as a matter of fact had not been seen on campus since the declaration of his challenge, and the day of said challenge had finally arrived. Ranma had left campus at lunch, and was now standing in front of the immense gate that allowed entry into vast and labyrinthine Kuno estate. He started slightly as an intercom partially covered in overgrowth sputtered to life.

"Enter Saotome."

Even through the static Ranma was able to recognize the voice of the Kuno's retainer Sasuke. The doors opened with a rusty creak and a slight shudder to reveal the portly ninja.

"Follow me please, Master Kuno awaits your presence in the dojo." Sasuke said as he turned and started walking towards the main building with ranma in tow.

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The underground dojo of the Kuno Mansion was just as grand as Ranma remembered it being, albeit there were the telltale signs of recent use and heavy training.

Ranma whistled appreciatively.

"It gladdens me that even one as vile as thyself is able to recognize quality when he sees it." Kuno said from his seated position across from the dojo entrance. He motioned to a spot on the floor in front of him.

"Though it pains me greatly Saotome I must have words with thee, please join me for some tea and sushi."

"I think I'll pass, the last time I ate anything here I regretted it for a week." Ranma scoffed

"Ah yes I do believe that was the time my twisted sister caught thee unawares and had you sample her 'Curry'. Alas an unfortunate occurance but highly entertaining nonetheless. Nay Saotome this small amount of sustenence was prepared by none other than my puisant self, I assure thee they are quite harmless, unless thou lacketh the fortitude to consume our nations finest of appetizers."

Ranma crossed his arms in front of him and shot Kuno a lidded look, when his opponents gaze failed to waver he sat with his arms still crossed.

"No funny stuff Kuno."

A vein made itself known on Kuno's forehead. "Verily Saotome. Know that one such as myself is not usually given to ripaste with such a lowborn and ignoble cur such as thyself, but in my meditations a great, if not unsettling truth hath made itself known to me."

Ranma stared at Kuno bristling slightly at the thinly veiled insult, but in the interest of finding the cause for the swordsmans unusual level of courtesy held his tongue, so intead he chose to reply.

"And what is that? Ya finally figured out yer Looney Toons?" Ranma said as he cautiously sipped the tea finding it to be a little too hot but otherwise safe.

A second vein decided to join its brother, pulsing violently.

"As much as it pains me to mention, I hath realized that regardless of your many treacheries I am unable to best thee in martial combat, and whilst i am not what one would refer to in thy tactless manner of speaking a 'slouch', it does little to change mine inability. So I put forth a request to thee Saotome, and know that on my honor as a Kuno I do not say these words lightly nor in jest."

Kuno said with a look on his face that was strikingly similar to Ranma's when forced to eat Akane's cooking.

"What is it Kuno?" Ranma said more than a little curious.

"I would ask that thee rise to thy feet Saotome." Said Kuno as he moved the tray that was in front of him as Ranma reluctantly rose to his feet and much to Ranma's surprise Kuno kneeled before him in a position of supplicance.

"I Kuno Tatewaki, Scion of Clan Kuno, and heir to the Shining Scissors School of Kendo, do make the humblest of requests to Saotome Ranma, Heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, for training in his family's school of unarmed combat, in return he and he alone shall have the aid and support of Clan Kuno until such a time is reached where I Kuno Tatewaki am able to at least end a duel in a draw or victory." Kuno raised his head slightly "Dost thou accept?"

Ranma for his part had gracefully fallen on his ass when Kuno bowed, and had just regained his senses when said scion of swordsmanship had posed his question.

"Ya want ME ta train YOU?" Ranma stated incredulously "Ya want me ta train you so you can eventually beat me, not that it'll ever happen, and your even going as far as swearing your loyalty ta me? Not ta my family but ta me? Why should I even consider doing that after all the shit you've pulled?" He finished as he once again crossed his arms. He was about to refuse and walk out when, like a nuclear explosion, inspiration struck.

"Fine I accept but on one condition. No wait make it two conditions." Ranma said with a grin that threatened to split his face in half

Kuno sat back on his haunches "What is it Saotome?" he asked warily.

At this point Ranma's shoulders were shaking with barely repressed mirth.

"I will accept ya as my student only if ya keep our training secret, if my old man catches wind of this he'll try ta kill us both." Ranma said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Done Saotome, and the second condition?" Said Kuno

"You have ta give up tryin' ta date the pig-tailed girl" said Ranma with a grin

That was almost too much for Kuno to take but he as held his tongue, Satan himself started handing out bottles of ice water.

"If I may ask Saotome, What is she to you?" Kuno said as tendons and muscles hit critical trying to contain the righteous fury that was the Blue Thunder.

"Well since yer bein' so cool about this, she's my sister." Ranma said with a smirk. "And she don't like guys."

Kuno flinched as if he'd been struck "Verily Saotome? Mayhap she just has not encountered the proper paramour?"

"I SAID SHE DON'T LIKE GUYS JACKASS!" Ranma said hotly "NOW DO YOU ACCEPT OR NOT?" he finished

"Before I do I must ask. What of Akane Tendo? Surely thou art unnopposed to my continued wooing of said fierce tigress?" Kuno said with a hopeful look in his eyes

Ranma thought it over for less than a second and replied with an almost evil grin on his face.

"I don't mind at all Kuno as a matter of fact I think you two are perfect for each other. BUT! Here's the deal, every morning yer gonna attack her with yer full power, and that don't mean you can rally the the Hentai Brigade. Ya gotta win a date with her on yer own, got it?" Ranma finished hotly. He caught Kuno looking at him as though he had suddenly grown a second head.

"Surely even though she is as fierce as the surf before the storm, you cannot expect her to long last under the onslaught of the Blue Thunder?" Kuno said as he guaged Ranma's reaction.

"Look Kuno, She has this crazy idea in her head that she's this awesome martial artist, She even thinks that she's not gonna get hurt when she interferes in one of my fights. I know ya've always held back and allowed her to beat ya because i figured ya think that the fun's in the hunt and all that, but yer gonna help her reach the next level in her skills because I'm tired of havin' ta pull her ass out of the fryer whenever she decides to bite off more than she can chew." Ranma replied with a tired voice noting that Kuno was still staring at him.

"What?" he asked intelligently

"Saotome, I fear that I may have made a grievous error in mine judgement of the color of thy character. I humbly accept thy terms." Kuno finished as he stood and held out his hand, which Ranma shook hesitantly.

"Ya know Kuno, if ya go back on yer word I'm gonna kick yer ass right?" Ranma said over his shoulder as he turned to leave.

"Verily." Kuno replied "SASUKE!"

The diminuitive ninja dropped down from the rafter he had been hiding on without a sound in a rare showing of his true competence."

"Yes Master Kuno?" he said as he kneeled before his lord.

"Please show mine guest the safest and most expedient way out of the estate, also he is to be welcomed at any time regardless of hour or circumstance." Kuno said as he sat back down to finish his tea. "Good day Saotome."

"Yeah later Kuno. I'll be back in a coupla' days after I figure out what we need to begin working on." he said as he followed Sasuke out of the dojo.

"This way if you please, Master Saotome." said Sasuke

"Yeah, yeah, lead the way short stack."

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Deep within his castle of shadows, Bartholomew was ecstatic. The Saotome boy had surprised him yet again. He was showing signs of being able to affect minor changes in his environment that would still be felt months or even years later. It was truly only a matter of time before he gained complete control over the Butterfly Effect, and Bartholomew was nothing if not patient.

The time to act would arrive soon, and all the worlds would tremble as his plans came to fruition.

End chapter 5

a/n sorry for the wait guys R/R please


	7. Power Overwhelming

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction By:

Mika the Raven

Disclaimer: All characters not created by me are the property of Rumiko Takahashi

Chapter 6: Power Overwhelming

It was a fairly cold day, but Akane hardly noticed. She was off to learn a new technique.

The idea had dominated her thoughts last night, driving out some of the sting of Ranma's attack on her. She appreciated it on some twisted level as he had shown just how vastly outclassed she was, and was eager to settle the score.

Her dreams the previous night had stayed with her upon awakening. She threw Ranma through walls, leveled her with a blow, brought her to her knees... the crowd roared approval... and then it was Ukyou she fought, or perhaps Shampoo, or perhaps them both, and again her foe went down before her precise attacks... and finally it was Ranma-kun she was fighting, his face creased with concentration, respect, and a little fear as they dueled... She had decimated them.

It had been a heady array of night visions, and the memory of them buoyed her hopes as she jogged to the clinic. Tofu had promised to train her when she was little. when her father was no longer up to the task. He would teach her his fighting arts. Nothing spectacular, Tofu had said... but useful. She would settle for useful if it helped her win. Spectacular was Ranma's area.

Arriving at the doctor's office, she hesitated, suddenly uncertain. What if she couldn't learn it?

Oh well. She'd deal with that if it happened.

"Doctor Tofu?" she called, pushing open the door. "Are you in?"

"No need to shout, Akane."

She jumped, spinning to see Tofu standing a few inchesaway. "You... you startled me."

He smiled slightly. "You need to keep alert, Akane. Don't let people get that close without warning."

Akane nodded dutifully, although she remembered that Tofu had snuck up on Ranma in much the same way more than once. Erasing his presence from the mind, Ranma had called it... "So. I'm ready to learn if you're ready to teach."

Tofu nodded. "I have long wondered if you were going to take me up on my offer. I'm glad you did" He made a sweeping jesture with his arm "Come out to the back of the clinic, in the garden."

They strolled around into the garden of odd herbs and slightly stunted trees in the rear of the clinic. Stopping, glancing slightly at the overcast sky, Tofu gave a smile of satisfied amusement. "All right, Akane. I'm going to attack you with a simple leaping kick. I want you either to dodge or counter, whichever you prefer."

Puzzled, Akane nodded. "I'm pretty good with aerials, remember. Anything-Goes emphasises them."

He nodded, still smiling. "I know. Ready?"

She snapped into a fighting stance. "Ready!"

Tofu nodded, and leapt in a fairly standard jumpkick.

Akane tracked the movement, prepared to meet the attack, a sidestep and a punch...

Wait! He was veering right! Adjust!

Frantically, confused, she moved a bit to the side... no, the other way... what was going on...

The kick sent her tumbling to the ground.

Tofu extended a hand to help her up. "So. What happened?"

She stood, brow wrinkling in consternation. It had been a fairly simple kick... he hadn't veered in midair, or feinted, but she had become confused about the angle of his attack, where he really was... but why?

Slowly, she replayed it in her mind, looking for what had caused her to react as she had.

"Your shadow," she finally breathed. "It didn't match. It was veering and moving as if you were somewhere else."

Tofu nodded approvingly. "Martial artists trained in aerial attacks, especially ones who recieve aerial attacks, watch the shadow of their opponent to help gauge his or her location. When the shadow moves, their mind assigns the corresponding movement to their opponent. It's all unconsious, involuntary, and so when the two don't match it confuses them, with the inevitable results."

Akane nodded, a smile beginning to form. Ranma used aerial attacks quite a bit; vaulting and balancing in insane but surprisingly effective combat stances. The shadow trick might only work in one fight, but that was all she needed.

"So how do I do it?" she asked.

"It's a bit tricky at first. Come inside, and I'll demonstrate."

They walked back into the clinic, and the doctor seated Akane at a table. Vanishing into a back room, he returned with a candle. As Akane watched curiously, he set it on the table before her, lit it, and then turned off the overhead lights.

"You must move the shadow of the candle. From there, learning to move your own is simple."

She nodded uncertainly. "Okay... how do I do it?"

"Stare deep into the flame. Lose yourself in it. Let it surround you. Then, when that is done, alter the world around you to shades of black, gradual and slow, until the flame itself is a flickering grey in your mind. Once that is done, picture the shadow moving."

Mind over matter. Akane had always hated those kind of exercises. "All right," she said, and stared at the flame.

Warmth. Hot, burning, cold warmth. Flicker.

Time passed. She stared, tuning out everything but the dancing streak of yellow, narrowing the world down to it.

Flicker.

After a long time, she began to let the world back in. But slowly.

It was dark and shrouded, compared to the bright flame. She kept it that way, letting the dancing yellow illuminate black outlines on black surfaces with grey light. Before long, the room was a portrait of ebony.

Slowly, reluctantly, she began to fade the flame. Heat to cold, yellow to white, color to monochrome. The room clustered around the flame, choking the life from it, fading it

until it was a capering slash of white and grey.

Almost absently, she spun the shadow of the candle around and around and around, like a second hand on a watch.

"Very good," said a strange voice, and something huge loomed up behind her. With a small shriek Akane spun, the world slamming back into color, and stared at Tofu.

"Very good," he repeated. "Did I startle you?"

She smiled weakly, still shaking a bit. "I just... I didn't..."

"That's fairly common. Tuning out like that means you can be startled by anything. It's like the teacher shaking you awake in class; quite a shock."

Akane nodded, relieved. "I think I almost had it. Maybe with a bit more practice..."

Tofu pointed behind her. She slowly turned.

On the table, the shadow of the candle was spinning and spinning, like a bicycle wheel with one spoke.

Entranced, she made it stop. Then she started it up again, all with a thought and a will.

"Once you learn how, it's instinctual," Tofu said mildly.

Looking down, Akane stretched out a hand, watched her own shadow do the same. She smiled, and opened her hand, held the open grasp as her shadow's hand tightened into a fist.

It strolled across the room, waltzed a bit, then came back to fall in step beside her.

Akane grinned. "This should teach that baka a thing or two."

"I daresay it will," Tofu said with a smile of his own. "Just be careful. I don't want to have to treat you for any serious injuries."

"I'll be careful," she promised. "Thanks, Doctor Tofu."

He nodded cheerfully. "If this doesn't do the job, there's always... well, never mind. Good luck, Akane."

"Thanks!" Grinning ear to ear, she raced out the door. A bit of practice today, and then tomorrow she'd go looking for Ranma-teme and settle things.Settle things, and show the idiot who was the best.

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To say Akane was ecstatic would be like saying Alaska is cold. She had spent the better part of the afternoon learning how to move shadows. It surprised her just how easy it actually was. It was like remembering how to breathe. She hummed a merry tune as she watched her shadow dancing to its own parade. The only thing that had truly unerved her was the overwhelming sense of immensity that Doctor Tofu seemed to possess whenever she phased the color out of her perceptions. It was like he was everywhere at once, threatening to smother through sheer force of will.

She would have pondered further, but she had just made her shadow do a cartwheel and continue dancing. With out missing a beat she decided to race it home, an unseen set of scarlet eyes watching her from a nearby rooftop.

"Aiyah."

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It was evening, and the sun was already beginning its slow retreat from the sky. A quiet, serene sort of sunset; the beauty of nature enhanced by the effects of air pollution from the teeming city. It cast a faint crimson tinge of light upon the short, purposeful figure standing in front of a Nerima medical establishment.

Staff in hand, Cologne strode up the clinic steps.

She stopped at the door, frowning slightly in concentration. A string of syllables escaped her lips, and there was a flash and a sound like ripping silk. Smiling grimly, she tapped the wooden portal with the tip of her staff; with a roar, the door burst inward in a shower of broken wood.

Cologne stalked calmly into the dimly-lit room, eyes slowly moving back and forth, senses extended. The words to a half-a-dozen incantations hung at the edge of her brain, ready to be spat out with speed and force.

The clinic seemed deceptively mundane, except for the shattered bits of door marring the sterile expanse of floor. A desk, a low table, the skeleton dangling limply from a pole... nothing that wouldn't be found in any doctor's office in Japan. Neat, tidy, and utterly ordinary.

Ordinary to her eyes, at least. Her other senses told a different tale.

"Hello, Cologne." a voice behind her spoke dripping with contempt

She felt the presense a split second before he spoke, and she was already in motion, spinning around to face him. "Ono."

The doctor glanced about the room in mild bemusement. "I never will understand the Amazon inability to use doorknobs. They're not especially complex pieces of machinery, you know."

"It's a quaint ethnic custom," Cologne replied evenly. "You've broken our compact, Ono. I thought you were brighter than that."

Tofu chuckled. "Goodness, is that what's gotten you so worked up?"

"I will not be the only one who is worked up in a few seconds. You were warned of what would happen if you..."

"...broke our most solemn agreement, yes, I know." He smiled, and shrugged slightly. "You would have every reason to be upset if I had broken it."

Cologne frowned, noticing the turn of phrase. "If you had? Don't try to play innocent, Ono. I heard the reports from Shampoo this afternoon, She said the Tendo girl's shadow was walking ten feet in front of her, against the sunlight, and I know very well who taught her how to do it."

"Our agreement covers Saotome Ranma," Tofu said, a slight smile playing across his features. "I am not to talk to, teach, or influence him in any way, aside from providing him with medical help upon request. Fine. I've abided by that, and will continue to. But our agreement says nothing at all about Tendo Akane."

"I think it has become abundantly clear how greatly Ranma values her," Cologne said, reining in her anger with some effort. "Using her to influence him is a breach of our covenant."

He laughed. "You stretch the bounds of our agreement, Cologne. But even granting you that, I challenge you to show even the flimsiest evidence that I've used Akane to steer him to me. You may also want to check your sources on just how important Miss Tendo is to the dear boy."

"I don't need evidence, Transient." The final word was practically spat. "I know the uses you have for Saotome, and I know how much you wish to break our covenant. Did you really think I would abandon him simply because he will not join the Joketsuzoku?"

"You forget yourself, mortal." Tofu's voice grew soft, and the dim light in the room suddenly seemed to grow fainter, the shadows moving pools of ink. A yellow glow leaped up to fill

the lenses of his glasses, casting shafts of ruddy light before him. "You stand on my ground now, not in that fortress masquerading as a restaurant. Do you really presume to come to my place of power, and threaten me, and seek to dictate to me what I can and cannot do? You go too far, Joketsuzoku."

"I will go farther still," Cologne replied, the steel never leaving her voice. "I can send you howling back to whatever pit you call home, Transient, back into darkness for a hundred years. I'm sure there are hundreds of magi who would love to see you bound, helpless, confined to your own realm..."

"Try it, mortal crone," Tofu hissed. "Even if you survive, no Joketsuzoku will dare leave the Waking World for the next five hundred years for fear of what they will find waiting for them. I'm sure there are hundreds of beings who would love to see that."

Slowly, purposefully, Cologne touched the tip of her staff to the floor. A dim orange glow flickered from it, and with a single, unbroken stroke she inscribed a circle around her, the outline glowing against the clinic floor with a blazing radiance.

The doctor stared at the circle, at the staff, and then smiled. A friendly chuckle escaped his lips.

"I do believe you would," he said, seeming to relax slightly. "You'd really destroy us both. Fortunately, you've taken an oath not to. Remember that part of the covenant, Joketsuzoku?"

"On the understanding that you leave Saotome Ranma alone," Cologne replied. "One is conditional upon the other."

"Well, then?" An amused look appeared on Tofu's face. "Exactly what have I done to Ranma of late? I hardly think teaching Akane a parlor trick qualifies as interfering with him, does it?"

"It is the first step towards interfering with him, and we both know it."

"Foolish old woman." Tofu's voice grew cold. "I am not responsible for your paranoid delusions, Joketsuzoku. When you have a nameable way in which I have tried to influence Saotome, you can return and we can destroy each other. Until then, do not bother me with 'first steps' and 'I think you wills', because you know as well as I that such speculation is not what is specified in our covenant. Actions are."

Cologne fixed him with an icy stare, mentally cursing. Much as she hated to admit it, the Transient was right; Akane was not covered by their agreement. As long as he did not actively use her to influence Ranma, she had no technical grounds for complaint.

Worse, she had taken an oath not to interfere in any of Ono's dealings that did not involve Ranma or the Joketsuzoku. And warning away Akane would definitely qualify as interfering. Her hands were tied, for now.

"I will be watching you, Ono," she finally said. "And Akane. And Ranma. If you so much as teach him a new technique for tying his shoes, I shall return and banish you from the Waking World for as long as humanly possible." Cologne favored him with a cold smile. "Humanly possible covers a very, very long time. Even for one of your kind."

"I tremble before your righteous yet impotent fury," Tofu said sardonically. "Not that I expect you to believe me, but I really have very little interest in Saotome. I suspect he'd be more trouble than he's worth." He chuckled. "So hard to find good help these days you know?"

"So, of course, you decided to initiate his girlfriend," Cologne replied. "Yes, your lack of interest certainly shows."

"Do I need a reason to teach Akane a... thing, or two?" Tofu smiled, and the glow brightened, turning his lenses into dull lamps. "I have whims, you know. Your prohibition makes this place fairly boring most of the time. Besides. I like her."

Cologne snorted. "Poor girl."

He laughed. "Poor? Your kind and mine are natural enemies, Joketsuzoku, but I have often worked with humans. To mutual benefit, I might add."

"I suppose that would depend on how you define 'benefit'. You use them, Transient, like toys or chess pieces."

"And you do not?" Tofu raised an eyebrow, the dull glow in his eyes fading somewhat. "You, of course, are always honest and straightforward with your pupils. You would never dream of manipulating them, of using them as pawns of your Council, of even sacrificing them when the occasion seems fitting..."

"Sometimes," Cologne replied evenly. "But we do not revel in it."

The doctor laughed. "And that makes a difference? Did you know, old woman, that I once met Byen Tai? I spoke to her at some length. What do you suppose she told me?"

Cologne was silent, shock and fury warring within her.

"She told me how a great and respected matriarch had trained her, prepared her, and sent her on a vital mission." Tofu shook his head sadly. "Vital mission. Do you know, she actually believed it? Almost to the very end, she refused to believe that her elders had thrown her away as a feint, a distraction, a minor point on a vast and intricate plan."

"A plan that left the Abomination Visandrax chained for another thousand years, and which cleansed the Sea of Dreams for hundreds of miles." Cologne shrugged. "People would have died in greater numbers had we not acted."

"You see? We all have our justifications." Tofu chuckled, stroking his chin with his hand. "She was almost dead when she stumbled into my realm, and she knew quite well what I was.

She told me her story anyway, because by then she hated the people who sent her to die far more than she could ever hate me." He shrugged. "Her last moments were comfortable. Shefought the Abomination, and deserved to die in peace. It might have destroyed us all, which was why I made alliance with your Council and the rest of the Sealers."

"So that was you. I thought you were destroyed in the final battle at Mount Teidi."

"One of my vassals, and a valued one." Tofu frowned slightly. "He, at least, knew what his real mission was."

"It was necessary. Any doubts on her part would have revealed the feint for what it was." Cologne turned to leave, suddenly feeling very old. "It is good to know she died in peace."

"In peace? She felt no physical pain, at least. I saw to that. But the hatred, ah, that did not leave until her spirit did." She could feel him watching as she stepped though the shattered doorframe. "You are a fine one to accuse me of using people, Joketsuzoku. I doubt I would ever manage to use Akane as cruelly as you did your own grandniece."

Cologne descended the steps, and vanished from sight.

Whistling slightly, Tofu bent to examine a fragment of door. "Bakusai Ten-Ketsu. Interesting toy, that."

"IT CAN BE MORE THAN INTERESTING. SHE IS VERY POWERFUL ONO, DO NOT BECOME OVERCONFIDENT"

He chuckled. "She has an edge here, yes. But I don't intend to give her an opening to use it. That foolish oath will bind her, so long as I am careful."

"YOU WILL HAVE TO BE SUBTLE INDEED ONO, I DOUBT SHE WILL STAND IDLY BY AND WATCH"

"Oh," the doctor whispered, "I certainly hope she doesn't simply stand by. That would complicate things."

"ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU WILL GO TOO FAR. DESTROY HER NOW WHILE YOU CAN. I WILL..."

"My agenda. Not yours Willow." He smiled. "Don't worry about our most honorable Matriarch. She will have her day."

He turned and walked towards the back of the clinic, the door behind him putting itself back together without a sound.

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Ukyou slowly spun, showing off the wedding kimono. "Do you like it?"

Ranma smiled and nodded. "It looks great. I can hardly wait to see you in it at the ceremony."

She giggled shyly. "I can hardly wait either."

Laughing, he strolled over, slipping his arms around her. "You know, you'd look pretty good out of it, too."

"You think?" she said, letting one shoulder slip free of the cloth. "You can always check..." she felt his hands, confident and sure, hike up the obi belt and open the kimono's folds. Smiling, she ran her own palms along his bare chest, kissing him as she did.

Pulling away, Ranma sat down on the bed - not hers and not his, part of her mind noted - and beckoned to her. "C'mere, Ucchan."

Slowly, letting the kimono fall away from her shoulders, she walked over to stand before him. "Should we, Ranchan?"

He nodded.

Slowly, she moved into his lap, her legs straddling his. The kimono was now only a loose draping of cloth around her upper waist, and she eagerly pulled away Ranma's black pants. He lifted her slightly, positioning himself, and then she moaned with pleasure as he slid into her.

They began to slowly move, and Ukyou kissed him fiercely. "I love you..."

"I love you too," he whispered.

And then, a figure stepped into the room behind them.

Ranma's eyes widened in terror. His mouth opened to say something, and then a sharp, glinting axe flashed down over Ukyou's shoulder, splitting his skull. Ukyou screamed, terror and grief and horror suddenly shattering her bliss. She tried to turn, but Ranma's arms were still locked around her and he was still buried in her, thrustingspasmodically even as his bloody, ruined face stared blindly at her.

Shrieking, blood cascading into her eyes, she tried to stand. The corpse seemed to stand with her, lifting her off the ground as it rose, and then they toppled backwards onto the carpet. Her head hit the floor hard, Ranma's split, bloody mouth coming down to kiss her as his lower body continued to convulse. Above him, through the crimson staining her vision, she could see a dark figure with a ghost white face frozen with mad glee raising the axe.

Ukyou gave one last scream of terror, and then the axe came hurling down towards her face. There was a sharp, agonizing stab of...

Shrieking, sobbing, Ukyou bolted upright in bed. For several seconds all she could do was sit and scream, and it was only slowly that she realized that she was alone in her own bed, not lying on the floor embracing a corpse.

Her cries faltered, replaced by slow sobs. Only a dream, she frantically repeated to herself. It hadn't been real. It was just a nightmare...

Her bedroom door exploded open and a dark figure burst through, a sharp, glinting steel blade raised high.

Ukyou screamed again, shrinking back, hands frantically reaching for the combat spatula by her bed.

"Ukyou-sama? Ukyou-sama? What's wrong? What happened?"

She shrieked again, then stopped, the voice registering. "Ko..Konatsu?"

The figure stepped forward, lowering the sword, and in the dim light Ukyou could make out the concerned, somewhat wild-eyed features of her waiter/waitress. "Ukyou-sama? What happened? Did someone attack you? I heard you scream, and you kept screaming, so I..."

"J..Just a nightmare, Konatsu. A bad dream." She was still crying, she realized. Somewhat self-consciously she pulled her sleeping kimono a bit tighter around her, trying not to let it remind her of the blood-spattered wedding kimono... "Just a bad dream."

"Are you sure?" he said anxiously, scanning the room warily. "You sounded..."

"I'm sure, Konatsu." There was no corpse mounting her, no psychopath with an axe. It was all a dream.

Somewhat sheepishly, Konatsu nodded. "I'm sorry if I scared you, breaking in. I just thought..."

"It's okay," she said dully, trying to take in the room. She was home, in her own room, not in whoever's room that had been...

"Sorry to have disturbed you, Ukyou-sama. I'll let you get back to sleep..."

"No!" she said with a force that surprised her. "I mean... if it's okay, could you sit up with me for a bit?" Scrambling, she reached over the side of the bed to turn on the table lamp, squinting a bit as it flared to life. "I'm... I'm just going to read for a bit. Until I feel..." She trailed off, unsure what to say. Until she felt safe? Until she was completely sure that it had been a dream?

Nodding sympathetically, Konatsu sat down in her desk chair. "I'll stay for as long as you like, Ukyou-sama."

"Thanks, Konatsu. I really appreciate it." Ukyou grabbed the mystery novel on her nightstand, flipped it open, and began to determinedly read. It was a cop story. The body in it had died from a gunshot to the chest, not an axe to the head.

She shuddered. Maybe it was the fact that it had been such a good dream before it turned horrible, but it had scared her more than anything she could remember since she was young.

Maybe it was Akane's challenger. Someone with a hook had come to get Akane, so now she was dreaming that someone with an axe had come to kill Ranma and her.

Hadn't she dreamed about something like that before?

With an effort, she forced her mind back to the mystery. After a time, the shock and horror began to fade, and the mystery's plot became blurry, and she leaned further and further back in bed...

Gently removing the book from her sleeping hands, Konatsu pulled the covers up, turned off the light, and quietly left her room, continuing downstairs to his utility closet/bedroom he began to rumage through his belongings. Finding what he had been looking for he made his way back to Ukyou's bedroom door, and applied the warding charm. It was a rare one time use demon ward distinct to his clan. He frowned as the ward began to char from an unseen heat source. Evil had been here, but was no longer.

"Sleep the sleep of the righteous Ukyo-sama." He said with a whisper before descending the stairs to his room.

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Cologne stared at her teacup, the morning sun streaming in to cast sparkles in the pale green liquid. She had spent much of last night thinking on what to do, and was only now reaching a decision.

Ranma was far too important to be allowed to fall into the hands of a Transient, even one as relatively benign as Ono. She wasn't even sure the 'relatively' applied; he was a saint compared to the Abomination, but that was no great praise. Creatures of his sort were anathema to the Joketsuzoku, who had hunted down and destroyed more than one of them in their history.

And now, one of them was attempting to steal her prize pupil out from under her nose.

His use of Akane to lure in Ranma was a particularly galling point. Win Akane, and Ono could easily subvert him; Cologne had no illusions about how important the Tendo girl was to her 'son-in-law' regardless of what Ono said to the contrary. Even worse, she feared that Ono might attempt to steer an overconfident Akane into a serious fight with Shampoo - Akane would be badly injured, and the incident would be used to distance Ranma from the Amazons. Or she might simply urge Ranma to listen to Tofu, to trust Tofu... Cologne almost swore. So many possible angles to his game, all leading to the same thing. The ownership of Ranma by Ono.

The news about Byen Tai had shaken her. Perhaps Ono had meant it to taunt her, but it had only strengthened her resolve. She would not allow Ranma to be taken. She would kill him herself, first.

And before that...

Yes, before that she would kill Akane if necessary. She was only a tool to seize Ranma with, but she was a vital tool. Eliminate her, and...

Cologne sighed. There were options to be explored before she considered such a step. The thought of murdering the girl, even for the best of reasons, made her soul shrink.

Then, too, there was Ranma's response to anyone hurting Akane. She had no doubt that attempts by her or Shampoo to eliminate the Tendo girl would result in Ranma turning violently against the Amazons, making Ono's task even easier.

Unless...

Ono had taken advantage of some not quite apparent change in the relationship between Ranma and Akane, seizing upon the opportunity to snare her. The bits of power he gifted her with, while insignificant, would both set her under his control and protect her from the very person who had given him his reason to act.

Unless, of course, someone were to do the same to Ranma.

Cologne smiled grimly. She could teach the pigtailed boy a few minor tricks... nothing spectacular, he had spectacular down to a tee, but enough to give her an edge over Ono's dark influence. If Akane needed to be neutralized - either temporarily or permanently - so be it, she would make an untraceable catspaw. Two could play the game of using tools to control Ranma.

Ironic, she thought. The very thing that had helped push Tofu to this plan would become the means to snuff it out, if necessary. And only if necessary. She had no desire to sacrifice Akane without great need to.

On the other side of the room, Shampoo was absently perched hunkered over on a countertop, a newspaper in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. The lavender beauty was dressed in the same thing she had slept in; a grey, rather wrinkled sleeveless top. The arms were open enough to reveal a bit of her highly defined torso, and even from where she sat Cologne could plainly make out the scars on her torso. Scars she herself had put there.

For the sake of the Tribe, Ono would not succeed.

"Shampoo"

Shampoo looked up, eyes holding the usual expression of bland disinterest. She did not know when the change had occured, but it merely appeared that she was going through the motions in her pursuit of Ranma. She had become distant, morose, and slightly cynical.

"Akane has been taking lessons. She will undoubtedly have something to use against you on your next meeting."

Frowning slightly, the purple headed girl shrugged. "Shampoo no worried about Violent Girl, She too too weak."

There was a loud boom as Cologne brought her staff down on the floor."You would do well to heed my warnings Shampoo, This is no regular martial artist that Akane is being instructed by. He is a Transient, a very cunning one at that."

Shampoos eyes had widened briefly in fear at the mention of the demons of legend before replacing her mask of indifference.

"What you have me do Great Grandmother? Is too too bad for Violent Girl yes? How we prepare?"

"I may be able to help you there. There is a trick or two that you may find useful... for fighting demons."

Shampoo put down her tea and walked over to sit across from her at the table.

"I await your training, Honored Elder. I only hope it is worth my while." Shampoo said in her native tongue

Behind her folded hands Cologne smiled, and dismissed her errant Great Granddaughter with a wave, and watched as she mounted the stairs to her bedroom.

This was too easy.

Cologne raised a teakettle up to the stove, lit the fire, and then heard the knocking.

Three delicate, evenly-spaced raps.

Cologne frowned, a slight chill working its way down her back, and peered intently at the door of the stove.

And, again, three knocks.

"You're invited in," Cologne said slowly. "But only once."

The oven door fell open, the fire behind it blazing redder than any gas-powered range should. There was a chorus of snickers, of giggles, of muted laughter.

Slowly, with infinite grace, a delicate figure decked in white stepped out of the mouth of the stove, daintily brushing bits of flame from her gown absently crossing her four additional arms behind her back.

Cologne gave a short bow. "Lady."

The Lady smiled back. It was, part of Cologne thought, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

The rest of her, though, knew exactly who she was facing, and wasn't pleased about it.

"Young Cologne. I remember you."

"I'm flattered, Lady." She was, in a way. She knew all too well how little importance the Lady attached to humans.

"You were in my service."

"I was, Lady."

"And then you left it."

"It was time to move on."

"You could still return, you know. There is a seat set aside for you." The Lady smiled gently. "Age doesn't matter, in my house. You might turn around and find yourself young."

All true, Cologne knew, and then she felt the entire force of the Lady's will upon her.

She could go back. Go back and practice her Art, unfettered by her creeping mortality. No need to worry about her great-granddaughter, or the tribe, or Ranma. There would always be another Matriarch. She could go back, and be young, and beautiful, and irresponsible when she wished to be. She could...

...could go back and be a slave.

"I think I'll decline your offer, Lady."

The Lady shrugged petulantly. "As you say. I didn't really expect you would."

"Is this just a courtesy call, then?"

"Not at all. I've come to warn you, Young Cologne."

Cologne's eyes narrowed. "I am no longer young, Lady. What sort of warning do you bring?"

"The Transient will try to neutralize threats to his plan. Including you and yours. And perhaps others. Mortals break so easily."

"I am aware of his enmity," Cologne replied dryly. "None of his servants are strong enough to do me harm in the Waking World."

"True, Young Cologne, but he does so like to play with mortals." The Lady smiled. "There are so many of them, scurrying here and there. Like frightened lizards. Some of them bite, and if you look too closely at a pair of them... why, another might sneak up behind you and bite your toes off." She gnashed her teeth for emphasis, and Cologne noted with only mild surprise that they were long, narrow, and filed to razor points.

"I'll keep that in mind." It was cryptic, but that was the Lady's way. Perhaps it was because she didn't think in exactly the same way as humans. Perhaps it was because she enjoyed seeing things bewildered and confused. Probably it was both. "Kind of you to give some thought to me, after all these years." And highly unlikely.

"I have always loved islands. Green and black, and such playthings..." The Lady licked her lips, beautiful in the gesture. "For servants past and present, Young Cologne. And because it amuses me."

Cologne nodded. "I imagine it does, Lady. I keep that in mind often."

Laughter rose, and the flames from the stove roared. And then Cologne was alone in the room, and the oven was cold and dead.

Servants past and present.

Her eyes widened slightly. Did she mean...

She probably did.

Cologne swore. Bad enough that she had a Transient to worry about. Now the Lady had to rear her beautiful head. Ally or enemy? Impossible to be sure, and hard to tell which was worse.

Turning, she walked to the door of the kitchen, and stared for a long time at her bubbly grand-daughter in the center of the room.

Japanese didn't contain the term that was rising in her mind. Chinese did, but it was too broad and only hinted at vague shadows.

"Leanan Sidhe," she muttered.

"What, Great-grandmother?"

Cologne noted with worried approval that Shampoo's presence hadn't registered until seconds before she spoke. "More complications, child." She turned, then, to study Shampoo's face. "Have you met a beautiful woman recently, or in the past?"

Shampoo looked confused. "Beautiful? Are many, Shampoo supposes."

Cologne nodded, satisfied. Anyone who had met the Lady knew exactly what was meant by beautiful woman. It was burned into their brain. "Someday soon, child, a lady in white may offer you your heart's desire. Do not accept."

"She offer me Ranma?" Shampoo raised an eyebrow curiously. "She lie then, of course."

The matriarch hesitated for an instant, and decided on the truth. "No. She won't be lying."

Shampoo looked confused. "Then why you say not accept?"

Cologne sighed. "She always tells you what you'll receive." She glanced into the dining room. "She never tells you what she'll take."

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Willow salked back and forth in her Great Hall fustratedly. The ancient amazon was definitely going to be a problem, this was an outcome she could not allow. She smiled suddenly, exposing her needle point teeth.

"Ah yes, She will do nicely."

She would have to call The Dragon of the Clouds, but she had to find her first since the ancient lizard had been living as a mortal since the Herald of the Nazraene. She shuddered. That particular event had definitely had an impact on all things supernatural, it was why she now had to be very careful when she hunted, as one did not fool around with the residual effects of one descended directly from the Source, but that was neither here nor there. She had a general idea of where the dragon currently lived, she only needed to worry about having to remind her of who she was.

Oh yes this was definitely going to throw a wrench into what ever it was that Bartholomew was planning, not that she had anything against him. This was just business, and she stood to gain very much at the end of this. Bartholomew be damned.

END CHAPTER 6

A/N hey guys, imagine that. two chapters in less than a week. Let me know what you think.

pre-reader credits as always go to my good pal Black Dragon, and Drew1984.

Any one who can guess who the "Dragon" is going to be gets a special sneak peek at the next chapter. Till next time. please read and review

Sorry to have to post this again there were several minor typos that i felt were unforgivable. the next chapter should be out in a few days.

Thanks

Mika


	8. Sharp and Shiny

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Anime/Manga » Ranma » **Between Asleep and Awake**

B s : A A A

Author: Mika the Raven

Fiction Rated: T - English - Horror/Adventure - Reviews: 20 - Published: 04-17-07 - Updated: 08-16-07

id:3494810

Bottom of Form 1

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by

Mika the Raven

Chapter 7: Sharp and Shiny

Disclaimer: All characters not created by me belong to the beautiful and eccentric mind of Rumiko Takahishi, and whoever she sold her soul to.

Kodachi shrieked and ran.

Blackness surrounded her, enveloped her. Not the heady, exhilarating darkness of the nighttime rooftops, but an inky, suffocating blackness. She could almost feel it in her lungs, feel it beading on her skin...

She stumbled, quickly pulled herself up, and ran on. The ground was a blasted heap of rubble, pitted and broken, and full of places to snag her feet, twist her ankle.

The heavy footsteps pounded behind her, slow and deliberate, and always closer and closer. She was running as fast as she could, and it was only walking, and still it was gaining. There was no escape.

Panting with terror and fatigue, Kodachi pulled to a stop under a broken column of blackened stone. Slowly, reluctantly, she turned around.

Two glowing red eyes stared back at her.

"Stay back," she commanded, trying to sound imperious and confident. It came out as more of a plea.

The thing strode forward, wearing the darkness like a robe, red eyes burning. It reached behind it, and unshipped a long, twisting, wickedly-sharp scythe.

Kodachi took a step backwards, and then another. Then she snarled in defiance and flung a razor hoop at the thing's head.

The scythe lashed out, and the hoop fell to the ground, broken. The cowl masking the thing's face seemed to shake slightly, as if in amused laughter.

Anger suddenly filled her. She would not be mocked. She would not!

With a cry, she leapt at it, clubs fanning out in a deadly arc. Several of then struck the thing, and she hurled a heavy iron ball into its stomach, causing it to grunt in pain. Landing, she lashed out in a kick, felt it connect, and then sent her ribbon lashing around the robed figure to tie its arms.

The red eyes blazed, and the ribbon burst into burning fragments. The scythe swung down at her, and she gasped in sudden pain as it cut a shallow gash along her side, staining the purple leotard with a darker crimson.

Enraged, Kodachi leapt for the thing's throat, springing for it like a jaguar. Her hands closed around a neck, and she squeezed, yelling in fear and rage.

The figure simply raised the scythe blade, and brought it over, down, and up.

Kodachi felt the blade slip into her back, and watched in fascination as the steel tip emerged from her chest. Her hands clawed at the cowl, and it tumbled free.

She looked into the smiling, horrifyingly familiar face, the eyes glowing like coals, and screamed.

"Ranma-sama..."

The scythe began to tear its way downward...

Kodachi sat up in bed, her mouth moving soundlessly, sweat and tears streaming down her face. She could still feel the burning pain in her chest and back, and was afraid to look, afraid to see whether or not there was a wound, or a scar, or a mark.

Now she knew what she was running from. It had chased her in her dreams every night for weeks, but this was the first time it had caught up with her, the first time she had seen its face.

She mechanically reached for the pill bottle by the dresser, removed a tablet, and swallowed it. They helped. The pills let her go back to sleep without fear of the dreams, let her find peaceful oblivion...

But there were only three left.

The doctor had said they would help. He had said that if the dreams got worse, there were other pills. Ones with side effects, but ones that would be certain to work.

A choked sob escaped her lips. Side effects. How could they be worse than what tormented her every night?

The muscles underneath her arms and legs began to roil and spasm, and she gritted her teeth. Her current pills had side effects too. But it was worth it. The silent, peaceful sleep afterwards was worth it. She had to walk a little funny, because of it, but she needed to be able to sleep without fear.

Another spasm shot through her, and she quickly lay flat on the bed. Her back arched as the convulsions hit with full strength, and she gritted her teeth and watched as the muscles under her stomach and arms and legs writhed and twisted.

Finally it passed, and she stood, her legs weak and shaking. She moved with an odd, shuffling step into the bathroom, back bent forward as if under a heavy load, and turned on the shower unit, setting the taps to cold. She stood under the freezing water for almost a minute, letting it wash away the sweat and scent of fear, and then turned it off and staggered into the bedroom.

Still dripping, shivering slightly, she crawled under her writing desk and curled into a tight ball.

Sleep came quickly, peaceful and dreamless.

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The door to the Ono Clinic was broken, Akane noticed with alarm.

Hastily, she dashed up the steps and through the ruined portal. "Dr. Tofu? Is everything all right?

"Just fine, Akane."

She yelped, spinning around to face him. "How do you DO that?"

The doctor chuckled slightly. "It's another simple trick, one which I might teach you later on. Have you come for your lesson?"

Akane nodded. "What happened to the door?"

"Oh, a patron became a bit unruly. Nothing to worry about." He smiled while inwardly frowning. He hadn't expected the Tendo girls perceptions to have grown so much so fast, as he had layered a fairly solid illusary door over the one Cologne had demolished. "I expect the dojo takes worse damage on a fairly regular basis.'

"You could say that." she said flinching at the thought Kasumi had nearly enough on site to to warrant a Journeyman carpenter's liscence by now. Not that she really could complain; far too many of the broken bits of household were brought to that condition by her own fists. "So, what's the technique?"

"Come with me, and I'll show you." Striding forward, he led her down a short hallway to one of the back rooms. "This won't be quite as easy to learn as the last one, I'm afraid."

"No one said it had to be easy," Akane replied, glancing around as she entered the tiny room. In the dim light, she could make out bookshelves, several oddly-shaped candleholders, and a blocklike table of some sort of black stone in the very center of the room. "What is this place? If you don't mind me asking," she hastily added.

He gave a short shrug. "It's something like a dojo, you could say. My Art requires different surroundings than the Tendo or Saotome-Ryuus."

She gave a slightly nervous chuckle, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. She couldn't make out many of the books very clearly, but several of them had titles in Chinese characters or other, more sinuous scripts. There were other objects as well, of less obvious purpose... she noticed that Betty, the skeleton, hung from a set of ropes by one wall. "It looks more like a sorcerer's den than a dojo, to be honest."

"The line between the two can be thin, in many cases," Tofu noted mildly. "Cologne is a good example of that, and so am I. To a lesser degree, at least. I deal more in ki and human energy, and less in potions and spells."

Akane nodded, glancing at the table with curiousity. It almost seemed multicolored - except that the different hues were all black. It didn't make much sense, but... it was the best explaination her brain could return. Just different kinds of black.

"That table is giving me a headache," she said.

"It does that at times, yes. You'll get used to it." Walking over to one of the shelves, he lifted a candlestick and set it on the blocklike table. A pale white taper was taken from a box carved with wooden roses, and inserted in the holder's twisted neck. "I assume you remember how you learned the last technique?"

Akane nodded. "Staring at the flame, changing it to monochrome. Do I do that again?"

"Sort of." He touched a fingertip to the candle's wick, and ignited it. Where had the spark come from, she wondered? "You need to fade out only the area immediately surrounding you, thenswirl it around you, as if you were the center of a hurricane. It's like moving the shadows, only instead of a real shadow you're moving the monochrome version of the real world. Do you understand?"

"Probably not," she admitted, mind furiously trying to conceptualize what he had asked her to do. "But I'll try."Tofu nodded, the candlelight making flickering mirrors out of his glasses. "Try, and we shall see."

She approached the table, focused on the flame. Unlike the previous time, she almost effortlessly slid into the monochrome vision, a white-grey flame flickering and leaping against a layered black background.

Too much, though. She was only supposed to remove the color from the areas right around her...

With effort, Akane let the muddly hues of the room leak into the edges of her vision. It was harder than she had expected; while it was easy to slip from color to black to color, a mixture of the two was hard.

Finally, after what seemed like a short eternity, she was a island of grey in a sea of deep tones and hues.

Carefully, uncertainly, she tried to 'swirl' her vision. Nothing happened. A second mental prod, and still nothing.

"Damnit!" she thought despairingly. "What if I can't learn this?"

Irritated, she pushed harder. Nothing. The scenery wouldn't budge.The shadows had moved easily enough, but real objects seemed to be beyond her.

An idea suddenly presented itself, and she tried a mental pull insyead of a push. There was a tangible ripple, and she smiled slightly. Gathering up her will, she pulled her vision clockwise, pushing from the other side as she did.

The room seemed to melt and swirl, as if it were a child's watercolor picture washed by liquid. The area outside her focus, the part she had returned to color, stood as still as a rock. The greys began to rotate about her like a cyclone, faster and faster...

"Very good, Akane," someone said, and she spun to see who had entered. The swirling greys formed a wall obscuring her vision, and she quickly cleared a potion of it out of her way, a window appearing in the monochrome maelstrom revolving around her.

A tall, featureless, humanlike form stared back at her, looking for all the world like a mannequin dyed ebony. It had no eyes, but somehow she could still feel its gaze.

Fear suddenly gripping her, Akane hurriedly dropped out of the monochromatic vision, the hurricane of grey vanishing. Backpedaling, she slid into a defensive stance.

Dr. Tofu looked at her curiously. "Is something wrong?"

Akane blinked, trying to sort out what had happened. "You... you looked all black. Not like a African, but like you'd been carved out of black marble or something."

"Your vision changes a bit when you slip into that state," he said. "Most people will look a little featureless. People like myself, who know a good deal about such matters, will

typically look... different." He chuckled, looking slightly amused. "What you saw was actually fairly tame. I wouldn't advise looking at, say, Cologne unless you want screaming nightmares for weeks."

She nodded uncertainly. "What is it that I'm doing? I thought at first it was just a mental trick, but you make it sound like something more..."

"You're phasing slightly out of the real world, and into an analogue of it. You exist in both at once, but you're completely present in neither." Tofu adjusted his glasses, voice taking a lecturing tone. "Everyone, to some extent, exists in the analogue. That's one of the reasons why people have shadows. But it's very difficult to go beyond the normal balance of what world you exist in, and only a very few people ever actually learn to put themselves completely in one or the other."

"So I'm partialy putting myself into some other world?" she asked, suddenly apprehensive. "Isn't that... I don't know, dangerous? Is there stuff over there that can hurt me?"

"Good questions," Tofu said approvingly. "You're largely safe in Nerima; this area is fairly clean of dangerous pests. I would advise against using shadow near the Ooni Temple or Shiningen'ya; both of those are..." he paused, seemingly trying to pick his words right, "not safe places.

She nodded, mouth slightly dry. This was turning out to be nothing like the punching set or ki blast she had expected to learn. "So. How do I do this technique?"

The doctor smiled slightly. "You just did."

She stared at him incredulously. "Obscuring my vision and putting bits of myself into another world is the technique?"

Tofu shook a finger at her chidingly. "Allow me to show you what it looks like on the receiving end."

Without warning, a curtain of swirling black leaped up around him.

Akane took a step back as the conical pillar of ebony moved towards her, looking like a tornado devouring an oil well. She couldn't see through it, and it looked awfully solid...

It arched into the air, seeming to expand as it did, and then hurtled down at her.

She frantically raised her hands to block, and then it engulfed her. To her horror, she found that she couldn't see; it felt as though the air had become almost as thick as water. Someone tapped her on the shoulder; when she tried to turn around, another tap registered on her head.

Closing her eyes, she summoned up the monochrone vision. Then she opened them.

Instantly the air seemed to return to being just air. The spiralling funnel of black still surrounded her - but, somehow, she could see through it. The figure of midnight black stood at its center, arm raised to tap her again.

Smiling slightly, she reached out to tap it back... and then her concentration faltered, and her vision was once again blocked.

The funnel evaporated, and Tofu crossed his arms. "You see? Anyone who can't phase themselves is going to have a great deal of difficulty fighting you. The trick is learning to

keep yourself partially phased while still being able to keep your mind on the fight."

She winced. "Is that even possible? I lost it just by moving my arm..."

"The more you practice, the more natural it becomes," he replied. "Your... aura isn't used to phasing, and keeps trying to snap back into the state it's lived in all its life. The more you

phase, the less resistance it'll put up as time goes by."

"Okay. Makes sense." She supposed that it was just like a workout; the more you pushed yourself, the more you could do, over time. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"It doesn't work very well in direct sunlight. In fact, it can even be somewhat painful. Artificial light or dim light will work fine, and complete darkness will make it almost too easy. You might have a hard time narrowing the focus enough." He looked at her speculatively. "Try again."

This time she forced her eyes to stay open. With a slightly disoriented feeling the world snapped into grey, and a second later she restored the color on the edges. A command sent the maelstrom whirling, becoming slightly transparent to allow her to see.

Experimentally, she took a careful step forward, maintaining her grip on the phase with effort. She could see the basalt shape of Tofu watching her, unnaturally tall... seven feet, at the very least. His hands, large and smooth, seemed to twitch slightly.

Even knowing that it was just Tofu, the sight still made her nervous.

She slowly walked around the room, punching in slow motion at the air, trying to get used to it. An unpleasant feeling, as if something were watching her, seemed to be...

Two glowing amber eyes were staring at her from a shadowed corner.

With a yelp, Akane jumped backwards, her vision flashing back to normal. "Something's STARING at me!"

Tofu frowned. "Nothing should be... oh." Walking over, he took down a strangely-carved mask that hung on the wall between Betty and a bookcase. "This is a Kadath Geth-Thool headpiece. If you're phased, the eyes seem to glow. It's completely harmless; I had forgotten it was in here, in fact."

"Oh." Breathing a slight sigh of relief, Akane tried to relax a bit. The technique certainly was powerful... but it was also more than a little unnerving. Unlike most techniques, she wasn't sure she wanted to practice this at all.

Of course, nothing was making her. She could just let Shampoo win.

Like hell, she snarled at herself. She was not a little girl anymore, jumping at shadows. If even Dr. Tofu said this was safe, then it was most assuredly safe.

Right?

"Why don't you practice this at home?" Tofu suggested. "It's a bit too easy to do in here, and I expect that your room would be more comfortable than all this." He made a motion with his hand, taking in the various bits of arcane paraphanalia.

That sounded like a good idea, Akane thought. "Okay. I'll let you know what happens - she doesn't stand a chance against this!" Which was true. If she could only get used to it, Shampoo wouldn't even know what hit her.

Tofu smiled slightly. "Just be careful, eh? I seem to remember having to sew up a very large gash in your side the firs time you fought, xi fa xiang giao shiatsu notwithstanding."

"It feels like it's almost healed," she said, somewhat surprised. Tofu had given her strict orders not to remove the bandage - but the discomfort from under it seemed minimal. "When can I take it off?"

"Tomorrow should be fine. Good luck, Akane. Be careful."

He watched as she left, waited for her footsteps to clatter down the clinic stairs, and then turned in irritation. "That was clumsy. I had expected better from you."

"SHE SAW NOTHING. YOUR GLIB TONGUE COVERED THE LAPSE EASILY ENOUGH."

"I told you to stay out of sight Willow! She's going to acquire the vision as she practices. What then?"

"PERHAPS YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ON THAT BEFORE TEACHING HER SOMETHING OF THAT MAGNITUDE! I SHALL PROBABLY HAVE TO WORK WITH THIS MORTAL BEFORE OUR OBJECTIVES ARE MET. I WISHED TO SEE HOW SHE PERFORMED THE PHASING."

Tofu shook his head. "She did well enough, for the first time. It should keep her alive."

"TOUCHING INDEED, DO I DETECT SENTIMENT IN YOUR VOICE PERHAPS?"

"We NEED her," Tofu snarled. "The Abomination is stirring! Those fools on the Joketsuzoku Council and their Sealer allies botched the damn job! Unless she's used correctly it's going to be Mount Teidi all over again, and this time we might lose!"

"PERHAPS YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?"

Tofu grimaced. "You have no idea how long I've waited to snare Saotome Ranma. I almost had him, and then..."

"COLOGNE. KILL HER ONO. KILL HER AND SIMPLY TAKE THE BOY."

"I'm not strong enough in the Waking World, and Cologne's not stupid enough to match her strength against mine in the Gloaming. On the Sea of Dreams..." He shrugged. "Hard to say. The balance of power is too closely drawn, and she won't willingly give up the boy. Using Akane is the only way."

"COLOGNE MIGHT STILL OBJECT."

"Cologne can object all she wants," Tofu said, smirking. "She's made an agreement, and I'm going to hold her to it. Besides, she's saving her own skin by letting me do as I will in this matter. Her withered sense of ethics might be bruised by it, but the simple fact of the matter is that unless the Abomination is stopped, there will be another Gateway War, and I don't think anyone wants that. Especially the Joketsuzoku."

"I CAN STILL HEAR THE SCREAMS OF THEIR COUNCIL AS THE ABOMINATION SHATTERED THEIR AVATARS. IT WAS SUCH AN EXQUISITE SOUND. A PITY KHU LON WAS NOT AMONG THEM."

"A pity indeed." He chuckled. "I wouldn't worry. You dwell too much on death. There are other torments, many of them exponentially more satisfying."

"I AM AWARE OF THIS."

He laughed. "Yes. I suppose you would be."

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Akane was walking home. feeling as famished as she always did when she finished training with Tofu-sensei. She noted as she walked that the shadows seemed somewhat longer than they should for this time of day, and frowned as they seemed to retreat somewhat now that she was concentrating on them. Today had definitely been an eye opener. Who would have thought that sweet, unassuming Dr. Tofu dabbled in magic. Of course she had never truly believed in magic, at least until that bastard and his father had shown up an thrown her reality for a massive header.

Suddenly an whisting of air caused her danger sense to go haywire, and she dodged the arrow that had been blatantly aimed at her head. She whirled to face the direction the arrow had come from, and sensed a presence retreating from the area at high speed. She soon lost track of whoever it had been, and turned to regard the arrow. There was a message attached to it.

_**Tendo,**_

_**Two years have passed for both of us, and still you hold the heart of my beloved. This rests heavily on my honor. Especially since you have yet to make any kind of gesture that states your intentions to wed him. Come alone to the pond at Tai Park one week from tomorrow at seven, and be prepared to fight. You will find I am not so easy a match as concrete bricks. And perhaps I shall give you a taste of what you have so kindly left me with.**_

_**Lao Shan-Fu**_

Her eyes widened as she finished the note, comprehending what it was and who it was from. This was unprecedented. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted the rest of the way home.

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Kick. Punch. Kick.

Stupid tomboy, Ranma thought.

Punch. Feint. Kick.

The practice dummy was beginning to look more than a little battered. He had gone out in the yard to train until Akane got back. The sun had set, and he was still out here.

Take her for a walk, he had told Ukyo. Talk to her. Find out if she's really okay with this challenge from Shampoo. A **WALK**, for crying out loud, not a vacation.

He had found the letter on her desk during one of his daily excursions to the roof.

What had he been thinking, sending her off with Ukyo like that? Yeah, maybe he and Ukyo had discussed their relationship and had gone back to being friends, but he always felt a little uneasy around her. Hell she barely even registered as female to him in the first place, even with a conveniently placed set of boobs!

He was unaccustomed to having to resort to such underhanded methods to attain information, but ever since he had made that accursed pact with the Cat the NWC had changed its entire dynamic. Not that anyone knew what was going on. He couldn't tell anybody either, as the Cat would strike him down with pain if he even thought about confiding his situation to anybody.

Stupid tomboy.

They should have been back by now. Dinner was long over, not that he was worried. Ucchan had probably taken her back to her restaraunt to fix her some food, and they could have eaten together, laughing...

No. Not Akane. Akane had definitely not forgiven her for her part in the wedding fiasco. The fact that she had even gone for a walk with her in the first place worried the hell out of him.

Or... or maybe something had happened. Maybe Shampoo had hurt her. Maybe she was in a hospital right now, and he hadn't been there to do anything.

Ranma forced himself to relax. Ucchan was his best friend, she certainly wasn't going to let Akane get hurt right in front of her. And a hospital would have called the Tendos.

They had probably lost track of time. Yeah, that had to be it. Akane had probably let Ucchan regail her with stories of his adventures when they had been kids, and before she knew it, it was too late to walk home and they'd get back tomorrow morning.

That had to be it.

Ranma kicked the post viciously, unleashing a fast set of punches as he did. It tottered, creaked in protest, and then toppled to the ground. He aggravatedly fired a bolt of ki at it as he turned around to go inside, failing to notice the ebon flames that consumed what remained of the dummy.

Stupid tomboy.

He slowly walked into the house. There wasn't much he could do out here, and it was getting dark. Besides he had to get back to the Kuno Mansion before sword boy decided that he had reneged on their deal. He sighed and left the Tendo home through the front door for once.

Akane would just have get home when she felt like it. It wasn't like there was any reason to be concerned. None at all.

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Cologne casually circled her pupil. Shampoo stood, blindfolded, in the middle of the dining hall. Her bonbori slowly spun back and forth, whipping in unpredictable patterns in a rough coverage of the area.

Noiselessly, Cologne hefted a chair and threw it at her.

The mace blurred to the right, sending it crashing into a table. Less than a second later, a thrown butter knife hit the amazon girl squarely in her chest.

"Akane just got you," Cologne said chidingly. "You've been stabbed in a vital organ. If you hurry, maybe you can get to a hospital before dying."

Shampoo scowled, then suddenly lashed out with her pole. Cologne nimbly leaped straight up as the bonbori shot through the place she had occupied a second before. The ball end slammed upwards, and the matriarch narrowly avoided a concussion as she vaulted over her student's head.

As Cologne landed, Shampoo swung the mace in a low, scything arc, her left foot coming up and forward in an axe kick as she did so. The old woman easily ducked under the kick, casually poking in the side with one finger as she did so.

Shampoo blinked, and then froze.

"Aiyah! No Can move legs," she said after a few seconds.

"It will wear off in a few minutes," Cologne said. "You're improving, child."

"Shampoo would hope so," the violet tressed amazon muttered. "This be full day of work." The scowl came back. "Akane no going to paralyse me, Grandmother."

"Won't she? She is being taught by someone whose grasp of shiatsu approaches mine. To assume such things is unwise at best."

"Shampoo think you just like to see her as decoration."

Cologne chuckled. "Think of it as an object lesson. Take the time to do the exercises you've been taught."

Shampoo made no reply, and the scowl never wavered.

Shaking her head slightly, Cologne strolled out and into the kitchen. The training was going well.

She knew, to some extent, what was going to be taught to Akane. Ono was a being of shadow and shade, and that's what his tool would learn. So the first order of business was to make sure that her disrespectful descendant could fight in darkness, fight without seeing her opponent.

Blindfighting was something every Amazon learned. Extend your ki outward, use it to feel the room, to be aware of the ki of others. Make yourself a pond, alert to the slightest ripple.

For a person with the necessary amount of internal energy, it wasn't difficult. The trick was in keeping it going during the heat of combat.

In the process, she was also building up the girl's speed and reaction time. It was much like what she had done to Ranma, when she had first taken him under her wing...

Of course, Ranma learned much faster and was further along the path. Cologne was beginning to suspect that Shampoo was not throwing herself into traing like she usually did. There were some new habits that would need to be unlearned if they were ever to return to the village.

It was a pity more couldn't be done, or that she didn't have time to proceed more slowly. Shampoo had turned inward far too much for Cologne's liking; brooding, looking at things only she could see. Normally, Cologne wouldn't dream of teaching someone like that anything, but such was the weight of family.

But the situation was far from normal. With any luck, Ranma would realize quickly that something was wrong. And if he didn't...

Well, then there was always Shampoo. As a last resort. She was progressing well. She was more than a match for Akane now than she had ever been..

She could only hope that the Tendo girl didn't progress nearly as fast when pressed.

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Akane hiked along the avenue as the sun rapidly sank from view over the horizon. It wasn't far from her home. She and Ukyo had gone their sepapate ways a few hours ago. It was strange. She had never really liked the okonomiyaki chef, but had never really been able to bring herself to hate her on the same level that she hated the rest of Ranma's fiance's. She had even at some point during the day beun to feel the foundations of a friendship with the southern chef.

She sighed, Doctor Tofu had a lot of questions to answer about his techniques, or whatever it was they really were. She leaned on the fence that overlooked the canal by her house

She stared into the water, and Shampoo stared back.

Akane jumped backwards as Shampoo sprang over from the rooftop on the other bank , a wicked spear swinging in front of her. Dodging the first two swipes, she regarded her opponent "You bitch. Don't you ever give up? You said we'd fight next week!"

"Shampoo change mind!" Shampoo hissed, and the spear began a series of lashing strikes.

Akane retreated slowly, parrying, Shampoo was not just a martial artist, she had been trained from birth to fight, and if need be to kill. Akane could not afford any mistakes.

A swipe nearly removed her head, and she leapt backwards as the blunt end of the spear knocked painfully against her ribs. This wasn't good. She didn't remember Shampoo being this fast before...

"You've been training with Cologne, haven't you!" she snarled, lunging forward in a series of swipes. Shampoo parried, then countered with a thrust that sent her reeling back.

"Of course Shampoo have," the amazon replied, face a cold mask. "Am too too happy you notice."

The lavendar amazon renewed her onslaught with terrifying speed. Out of desperation she call to the Shadow and winced as a sudden freezing sensation shot down her arm and coalesced in her hand.

Shampoo's eyes widend in shock as the strange ki strike she thought the raven haired teen was readying formed a wickedly curved blade that terminated at her elbow, it seemed to be formed entirely of darkness.

The spear stabbed into her shoulder and she gasped in pain, wildly swiping with the strange energy blade to keep the warrior girl at bay. She couldn't, Akane realized with despair. Not like this, not with the amazon this fast. In the second of concentration she needed to enter the trance vision, Shampoo would skewer her.

The Amazon pressed the attack, a slash almost ripping into Akane's neck. She was losing, Akane thought with despair. They were too close to run away, and if this kept up Shampoo was going to get in a good hit... had she come through training with Tofu just to get chopped to pieces by ordinary old martial arts?

Another swing of the spear ripped a line across her chest, tearing the white cloth and staining it red.

She would not lose.

Akane felt something rising up, and the sword seemed to twist in her hand once again. In desperation, she let it carry her away, bury her beneath it, and the image of fields and a scythe hung in her vision.

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Ranma trudged on. He hadn't really expected to find her, but still...

The sounds of fighting suddenly rose in the distance, and then he heard Akane yell.

Heart in his throat, he ran forward in a sprint. It was coming from near the canal, he thought. And if it was Shampoo, to hell with whose fight it was, he was breaking it up and taking her home. He had been worrying about her too much to let...

He rounded the corner, and stopped dead.

Akane, her shirt torn and bleeding, was moving forward, a halo of black seeming to surround her. A blade of black energy, oddly curved and shaped somewhat like a shotel extended from her hand, and he watched in disbelief as she swept forward with it.

That's not right, he thought. Akane can't move that fast...

Shampoo parried the first blow. Then the second. Then the haft of her bonbori was cut in half by the third, and then Akane's blade sliced deeply into her side.

Ranma ran forward, shouting. What the hell was she doing?! She'd just seriously hurt the other girl, and was drawing back for another... for a death blow! "Akane! Are you crazy? STOP!"

She turned as Shampoo, side spurting blood, staggered backwards and fell over the side of the canal. "We've got to get her to a doctor," he said urgently. "Damnit, Akane, you nearly killed-"

Her arm shot towards him in a piercing strike, and he nimbly darted to the side, reaching out to grab her by the arm. "What the hell are yo-"

Her eyes were just swirling pools of black, he realized, and then her arm entered his chest. He mentally cursed himself for not taking the unexpected speed into account - he always did leave himself open with her - and then fell away into darkness.

Somewhere in the back of her own mind, Akane felt the sword sink into flesh. She made one last, supreme effort, and pushed away the power flowing through her, forced down the persona in her head.

A haze seemed to clear from her eyes, and then she saw Ranma slide off her sword and crumple to the ground. A pool of crimson began to creep out from beneath him.

The sword fell from nerveless fingers. "Ranma?" she whispered.

He lay on the pavement, still and pale. Oh God, she thought, oh God, what had she done?

With a low moan, she quickly knelt by his side, one hand going to check his pulse while the other fumbled with his shirt. Bleeding, she thought frantically, she had to do something to stop the bleeding...

Sobbing, she tore away his shirt and began to wrap it tightly abound the wound. It went all the way through... she had stabbed him all the way through... she had stabbed him...

"Oh God, hold on Ranma, please don't die... hold on..."

His pulse was rapid and weak, and frighteningly uneven. The cloth she had wrapped around the wound was already soaked with his blood, and her hands were scarlet.

Hefting him as gently as she could in a fireman's carry, she ran, tears pouring down her cheeks. Ranma gave a low, choking gasp, and she doubled her speed, running as fast as she could. She could feel blood begin to pool where he rested against her, could feel little rivers of it begin to run down her arms...

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Ranma... I'm sorry, hold on, just hold on..."

She ran, the streets blurring past, doing everything she could not to stumble. His face was a pale mask... he looked dead, she thought in a rush of panic. He was losing too much blood. She must have cut an artery... she had done it, she had killed him, it was all her fault!

A low cry ripped from her lips, the tears blurring her vision. What had she done?

"Please don't be dead... Ranma.. hold on, please, I love... I... oh God, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

The clinic rose in front of her, and she ran up the steps, kicking open the door with one foot.

"DOCTOR TOFU!" she screamed. "HELP! PLEASE, HELP!"

Ono emerged from the back office in a run. He stopped dead when he saw them, and them dashed forward, his face grim. "Put him on the table, Akane. Hurry."

Sobbing, she gently laid Ranma's crimson-soaked form on an examination table. His face was almost grey, and she could hear his chest spasmodically heaving. "It was my fault... I'll was all my fault..."

"Not now," the doctor said curtly. "Draw the blinds, Akane. Hurry."

Numbly, she got up and hauled down each of the windowshades, the last one plunging the room into almost complete blackness. "Doctor Tofu... you can help him, can't you? Can you help him?"

"I can save him," Tofu's voice said from in front of her. "He should have died almost instantly, but I can save him. However... I need a promise from you, Akane."

"What?" she said, not understanding. "Promise?"

"There is a task for you to perform afterwards. Promise me that you will complete it to my satisfaction."

"I don't understand," she sobbed. "What do you..."

"Promise!" he snapped. "He doesn't have much time, Akane. Hurry!"

"I promise!" she screamed. "Help him! Please, just help him!"

There was a noise of satisfaction, and she heard the sound of Tofu walking towards the examination table.

She wished she could see. How could he know what he was doing without any light? What did he mean by...

A thought occurred to her, and she pulled up the monochrome vision in her mind.

With a sort of sick fascination, she watched as the basalt form of Tofu wove a ball of shadowstuff, gently tamped it into the wound. She moved closer, slowly, and gasped as she

saw it begin to ripple, contort, and shape itself to the contours of his body.

"I'm replacing the lost tissue," Tofu said calmly. "Vessels and capillaries of shadow will do just as well as his real ones, at least until he heals." He jabbed at a few spots on Ranma's chest, and then glanced at Akane. "Go into the second room down the hall, and bring me the ice chest with Ranma's name on it."

She did. The room turned out to be refrigerated, and the cold air seemed to nearly freeze the tears on her cheeks. Several ice coolers were piled towards the rear of it. Ranma's name was on one. Her name was on another.

Hefting Ranma's, she ran back to the examination room with it. Tofu took the chest without a word, opened it, and withdrew a bag of whole blood.

"I made sure to keep compatible blood stocks for my high-risk patients," he said. "He should have died instantly, but Ranma is tough."

"I did it," she said numbly. "I stabbed him. Something rose up and entered my mind... I let it, but I didn't think... I didn't want to hurt him, Doctor Tofu. I didn't. I couldn't stop myself..."

"You're getting hysterical, Akane. That's not helping either of us."

"I'm sorry," she said miserably. "I just want him to be okay."

"Go out into the waiting room, I'll let you know when he wakes up." Tofu said with a grim look on his face.

"Thank you so much Dr. Tofu. I don't know what I'd do if I had killed him."

"Don't thank me yet," he replied, his voice suddenly flat. "You made me a promise, Akane. Now you get to follow through with it."

She stared at him, bewildered, a cold feeling suddenly running through her. "I don't... I don't understand..."

"I've found myself at war, Akane. Your erstwhile amazonian rival is part of something larger."

"I know," she said slowly. "She was the one who caused this, Doctor Tofu. She..."

"I heard, too late," he said. "There is a vast and evil plan afoot, Akane. The very world could be in danger eventually, but you and I and your family are in more direct trouble." He paused. "There is a man, a sorcerer. It was he who allowed The Lady to be brought into the Waking World. His name is Ogata Tadao."

"T..Tadao-Sensei?" she stammered, shocked. "The librarian? He can't.. I mean, he's always been so nice, he's a sweet old man..."

"And I am a kindly family doctor," Tofu said, a sardonic tone in his voice. "Akane, people are very seldom who they seem."

She nodded faintly. "What do you want me to do? Warn him? Stop him?"

"No," Tofu said levelly. "I want you to kill him."

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Shampoo slowly pulled herself up the bank, gasping in pain. The ancient salve her grandmother made her always carry had helped stop the bleeding, but she was hurt, and badly. She needed to get to her grandmother...

Her eyes fell on the blood that stained the pavement, knowing instinctively whose it was.

"Aiyah."

End Chapter 7

A/N

Sorry to post this once again there were some very minor changes i had to make to this chapter to make it flow with the events in chapter 8 which will be out by monday i promise.


	9. Lights Out

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction

By: Mika the Raven

Chapter 8a: Lights Out

Disclaimer: Any characters not created by me have sprung forth from the beautiful and eccentric mind of Rumiko Takahashi, and belong to whoever she sold her soul to.

010101010101010100101001010101001001010100100101010010100101010100100101001010101

Our eyes bleed a darkness you cannot fight  
Our whispers bring silence, for We are the Darkness in the Light.  
Our shape feeds shadows, There is nowhere We belong.  
Our touch breeds violence, There is nowhere we cannot be found.  
Out of your sight we live, and watch your hate grow strong.  
In forgotten hours we appear, Yet you know when We're around .  
We speak when you cannot hear, So We can watch you cry

We haunt your sleep, and wait for You to die.  
We hide and weep, and never You'll know why.

Crawling in the dark,  
Laughing at your soul,  
Drowning in your heart  
Our sins will make you whole.

We kill your hopes, We haunt your dreams.  
We make you burn, and hear your screams  
We are far, as well as near. We are your ghosts, We are your FEAR!

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Darkness.

To many it is perceived as the antithesis of all that is right and good in the world. Some have even chosen to ascribe it as having substance, or say that it is matter that is merely in a state of flux, and waiting to be excited to a visible state of being.

But Darkness is really the edge of the map, so to speak. And here there be monsters.

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Pain.

The pain in his chest was so intense that it threatened to overwhelm his sense of self. He didn't care, he couldn't. As wave after wave of agony lanced through his entire being, he felt as though his very soul was being rent asunder.

"Ran..."

Was someone calling him? Was someone speaking his name? He didn't know, for his whole world was torment.

"Ranma!"

That was his name wasn't it? Who could possibly be calling him? He didn't know, for anguish was his lifeblood.

Life? Was he alive? To feel pain meant that one yet lived didn't it?

"RANMA SAOTOME!"

Air.

He needed air.

He forced his tortured lungs to grasp for life giving air, feeling like he was inhaling molten glass as he did so.

"That's it, BREATHE!"

He took another breath, then another. The pain slowly subsiding with each filling of his lungs. The ringing in his ears fading.

"Ranma, you're going to be okay."

Who was speaking to him?

He continued to breathe. Each breath bringing him closer and closer to life.

He was alive.

He would let the world know.

He opened his eyes.

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Akane had been sitting in the waiting room for gods only knew how long. She could not for the life of her figure out why Dr. Tofu wanted her to kill sweet old Tadao-sensei.

She couldn't refuse, for she had promised on her honor to do it for Tofu to save Ranma.

A scream ripped through the small clinic, it was heartbreaking to hear. It sounded like somebody dying.

Then the screaming stopped as abruptly as it began. Now she was worried.

Dr. Tofu entered the room, a stern look on his face.

"He'll live." Tofu said with a smile that did not reach his eyes, Akane sighed in relief, regardless of the fact that she had been tasked with the murder of a man that she had looked up to for many years.

"The replacement took, so the bleeding's stopped, and I've focused his ki into healing his wound, but there were some minor complications." He finished not quite looking at Akane.

"Complications? What do you mean Tofu-sensei?" Akane said, her brow furrowed in concern.

Dr. Tofu gently placed his arm around her shoulder and led her back to the bench in the waiting room positioning himself to sit next to her. He continued to avoid looking directly at her, almost as if he was afraid of what he might see. He bit his lower lip, and Akane saw for the first time a Dr. Tofu unsure of how to proceed.

"Akane. Have you ever heard of The Gloaming?" He asked while pinching the bridge of his nose, as if he were attempting to rid himself of some hidden pain.

She puzzled over his question, wondering whether or not this had anything to do with Ranma's condition. She nodded uncertainly. "Isn't it the time just before sunrise and sunset?"

Tofu made a noise that was not quite a scoff.

"That is the modern term for twilight, yes." He finally turned to look at her, his eyes widening briefly as he saw the ebon energy flowing off of her in light wisps. "But the time you know as Twilight was once called The Levidensis by the Romans. It's a word that was used to describe areas where the veil between worlds is almost ludicrously thin, and sometimes these places would allow otherworldly beings to come through for good or ill." He sighed and continued. "In certain places on the planet the veils are already thin, or in some cases completely nonexistent… Jusenkyo is one such place. That is why the Amazons' have such incredibly long lifespans, it is why there is a Musk prince with the blood of a dragon, and why there is or, excuse me, was a phoenix on top of the mountain that overlooks the valley. Do you understand what I'm telling you Akane?"

She met his eyes with a confused glance. "Not really, but what does this have to do with Ranma, Tofu-sensei?" When he did not answer her eyes grew hard. "Dr. Tofu tell me what is happening to Ranma!"

She had a sudden sense of an overwhelming presence, a feeling that she was merely an inconsequential being staring at the face of her creator, but as quickly as it filled the room it seemed to taper off and become as imperceptable as it had been before. She met Tofu's gaze with a little trepidation, but managed not to flinch when he smiled as though nothing had happened.

"Now that you have an idea of with whom you are dealing, we shall be less inclined to make demands won't we my dear?" Seeing her nod dumbly he continued. "Beyond the Levidensis lies The Gloaming, a dark place inhabited by beings of nearly limitless power and ability." He smirked "You might even call them gods, but they are most assuredly not." He continued, smile still plastered against his face. "They are in fact once mortal human's that have acquired dominence over certain aspects of reality, from random happenings of chance to being able to control what one sees in dreams. There are even some who have amassed so much power over the millenia that they are able to freely cross the veil." He finished with a slightly maddened chuckle.

Akane was terrified at the seemingly inhuman power that was seeping throughout Tofu's aura, yet it was completely restrained as though it were merely a snake waiting ot strike, but she liked the direction the conversation was going even less. "What are you telling me Doctor?"

He turned and regarded her fully, his prescence filling the room, a manic grin plastered to his features, his eyes open wide. He opened his arms and struck an almost exultant pose, laughing as he did so.

"Akane... your darling fiance',heh heh, is very near to becoming an Aspect of Immortality, but I say do not mourn him, NO! Rejoice, and revel in the glorious destruction he will unleash when he is finally awakened to his true purpose." He laughed at her misery, baleful glare etched into his face, and it felt as though she were truly seeing him for the first time. There was a swelling of power, as lines of force became visible to her as they traced an intricate pattern in the air and coalesced around her left arm, and the being she knew to be Tofu speaking in an inhuman tongue that she was somehow able to comprehend.

"Before thou hast the chance to weep, there is still a promise left to keep.

Minato Tadao must be dead by your hand, as per the agreement given beforehand.

He must be no more by year's end, lest thy soul be mine to rend.

Until this fact has come to be, the Reaper's weapon you shall be.

Keep this pledge unto thyself, If thou dost value thy loved one's health.

For if this pact shouldst thou break, Thy soul is not all that I shall take.

Any wroth thou holdst to me, shall only serve to strangle thee,

Be thee gone now from my sight, Keep to the shadows and avoid the light,

I suggest that you accept mine modest boon, for thou shalt need it very soon."

With the utterance of the final word the lines of energy attached themselves to her arm in an intricate pattern that looked to be an amalgamation of many different ancient art styles, as it set it seemed to drain the color from Akane's skin, turning it a very pale white, and her hair was reduced to a shade of blackest pitch. Before she could utter a word she promptly exploded in a maelstrom of vibrant color and disappeared.

Dr. Tofu took a deep breath and gathered his wits about him. She was going to be very useful, he thought to himself as he went to go check on Ranma's recovery, and stopped suddenly as he realized that the pig-tailed Saotome scion was no longer where he had left him.

The only evidence that he had ever been there was a bloody sheet, and an open window.

"Well, that was very much unexpected."

End Chapter 8a

A/N: this one goes out to all of you who have waited patiently through revision after revision, waiting for more. I promise the next part you will have Ranma returned as the main focus of the story and we will see a bit of what Bartholomew is actually up to. Please review.


	10. A Good Day to Die

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction

By Mika the Raven

Disclaimer: Don't sue, didn't do it for the money

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Entropy

Not clean light, after all: not sweet atomic  
absolution of our myriad sins  
in one swift Lenten smear of ash, a faint thumbprint  
shadow on a shattered concrete sky.

The silence we were promised after sirens  
above a blasted blameless graveyard world  
is broken daily into shards of shrapnel  
both trivial and lethal, an ever-cresting  
tide eroding eyes, ears and minds.

In place of Oppenheimer's Trinity,  
the passionate intensity of vermin  
beset by ancient plagues goes seeping out  
along a web of unsuspected faults  
until some tower tumbles, lightning-struck  
past metaphor or merest understanding.

Surely whatever falconer we trusted  
to gyre that final bird into a night  
both mutual and assured is lost -- or missing  
behind these lines redrawn to locate center,  
and formulate the new survivor's question:  
not what rough beast, but which rough beast this time?

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Chapter 8b: A Good Day To Die

From rooftop to rooftop he lept as though the very hordes of the underworld were at his back, he didn't care, his only desire was to put as much distance between himself and whatever it was that thing masquerading as a doctor happened to be. He had not been this panicked since the pit, had not been transformed in to a mindless creature of instinct concerned only with survival. It was disparaging, the ease with which he was brought to his state. Nevertheless he ran, ignoring the shouting voice of the Cat. He did not listen, as his continued existence hinged on reaching the old ghoul.

"I WOULD NOT GO THERE IF I WERE YOU BOY!" Said The Cat, sounding nearly as anxious as he himself was terrified.

His chest was on fire, his wound strangely healed yet still gaping wide, felt like something was trying to tear itself free of him.

"Why shouldn't I go huh? The Old Ghoul has always been able ta help me before ya know." Ranma yelled out continuing his forward motion.

For once the Cat did not supply an immediate answer, nor did he flex his control over Ranma's actions.

"I MERELY STATE THAT IN YOUR CURRENT CONDITION IT WOULD BE FOOLISH ON YOUR PART TO APPROACH THAT ONE. SHE IS A DANGER TO US." he said softly, which caused Ranma to slow a bit.

"And what exactly is my current condition huh? Why should I believe anything ya say?" Ranma bellowed as he continued in the direction of the Nekohanten. "Ya ain't done nothin' but made my life go from bad ta worse since tha day ya decided ta pop in my head! I want straight answers, or I try my luck with tha ghoul! So what's it gonna be?"

Ranma could feel the cat mulling over his options, not that he was able to hear him but sometime one just got a sense for things.

"VERY WELL BOY YOU SHALL HAVE YOUR ANSWERS, BUT NOT HERE." His feline oppressor growled out. "CONTINUE HEADING NORTH TOWARDS YOUR SCHOOL. ENTER THROUGH THE DOOR ON THE ROOF, BUT BEWARE IT WILL NOT BE THE SCHOOL YOU ARE ENERING, BUT THE GLOAMING."

With that the cat went silent, and for the first time in months Ranma could not feel even the slightest bit of its presence. His path decided, he made it to the roof top in record time. Without hesitating he ripped the roof access door of it's hinges, and went inside.

The hallway was long, and dark, and it seemed as though he had been walking forever.

Well, not forever, Ranma mentally amended. Hours, perhaps. An hour, maybe not even that, It was hard to tell as there was no moon or stars to show him the way.

The floor on which his footsteps echoed on was lined with black tile, chipped and broken in places. The walls were of some material he couldn't identify; the lack of color in this world made his sense of texture uncertain at best.Roughly every five minutes - he had counted - he would pass a black picture frame, inside which was mounted a featureless black canvas. Who had hung them? Were they just naturally occurring features of this place?

Was there a sky? Of course there was, he firmly told himself. There had to be.

After a minute or two of walking, the path opened up into a clearing. A cabin, the chimney smoking, sat in the middle of it. He started to walk towards it, then hesitated. What sort of person - what sort of thing - made its home here?

He stared at the cabin, torn, and then the door swung open.

The figure that emerged was short, and dressed in baggy greens and blacks. A leather hatband and the tattered remains of a hat brim held a shock of unruly black hair in place. A shotgun was casually held in one small hand, but only a pair of green eyes seemed to be aimed at him.

He had to be all of eleven years old, Ranma guessed.

"Hello?" He said cautiously, keeping a careful eye on the gun. He wasn't sure what a kid was doing here, and he wasn't completely convinced that he was a child at all. The memory of the cats warning on the hill was still lurking in the back of his mind.

"Hello," the boy said, an undertone of amusement in his voice.

Ranma waited for a second. The boy smiled slightly.

"Who are ya?" he asked, feeling slightly awkward.

"A Raven." the boy replied. The grin grew broader.

"Is something funny?" the pigtailed martial artist said, slightly annoyed. Of all the things he had been expecting to face, the amusement of a grade-schooler with a shotgun wasn't among them.

He nodded. "The way you're standing there."

He scowled. This kid reminded him way too much of himself, Wonderful. "And why is the way I'm standing so amusing?"

"Because the Kamaitachi are going to kill you in a few more seconds unless you move."

He stared at the boy slack-jawed, then he grinned, nodded, and then something leaped at him from the side.

Ranma jumped backwards as fast as he could, readying a ki-bolt as he did so. He saw what appeared to be a fanged, squealing, gnashing set of jaws close in on him like a guided missile, and desperately threw himself to the side, firing the blast upwards as he did so.

There was a scream like a crazed rat, and the thing spun, a bloody hole through its flank spurting crimson. Ranma heard the roar of the shotgun, and then the thing lunged towards him with speed he couldn't even imagine countering, he kicked at it in desparation.

His foot caught it beneath the jaws, sinking into matted, mud-colored fur. He was slammed back against a tree by the impact, and he watched with horrified fascination as the creature began to push itself further towards him along the ground, injuring itself further as it struggled to get the slashing jaws closer...

It convulsed, suddenly, and went still.

Shakily, Ranma pushed the thing away from him. Lying on the ground, he could see that it was about the size of a large dog, mostly composed of ugly, unkempt fur and a long, sinuous body. It looked like a giant weasel, he thought, save for the huge set of jaws that dominated the head. It didn't seem to have any eyes.

Turning to look at the porch, he saw the boy lower his shotgun. Two more of the things lay sprawled at the edge of the clearing, twitching slightly.

"Thanks for tha warning kiddo," Ranma said, forcing himself to keep his tone even. "I coulda been killed, ya know."

The boy grinned again. "I don't think so. You're good enough to take one of them by yourself."

"How did you know that?" he asked, suspicious. Those things had been fast... for the boy to hit both of them with fatal shots...

"I didn't," he said simply. "But if you weren't, something here would have killed you before long anyway. Do you want some food?"

Ranma stared at him. The green eyes stared back. "I don't..."

"If I was going to hurt you, I could just shoot you," he pointed out. "I promise it isn't poisoned or anything."

He dropped his head, and stepped forward. "All right. I am a bit hungry."

The strange boy nodded, and smiled as he followed him inside. "Is deer okay?"

Ranma nodded, amused in spite of himself. "Cooked, right?"

"I can cook it if you like." the boy said, his head askance.

He stopped in the doorframe, glancing around at the cabin. A wooden table and some chairs stood near a hearth, and a bookshelf leaned precariously against one wall. On a sideboard in a corner, the carcass of a stag bled. A heap of furs in one corner seemed to provide a rough bed, a battered knapsack lying tossed in a corner of it.

"Who are you?" he asked, less afraid than confused. "What are you?"

"I'm Raven," he said quietly, setting the shotgun down on the table. "And I'm a hunter, so are you."

"Ya got parents?" Ranma asked. Perhaps he was an orphan?

"Do you?" Raven pulled a long knife out of his jacket, strolled over to the stag, and began to cut a bit off.

"Somewhere else," he said. Somewhere a long, long ways away. "But I'm older than you."

Raven glanced up to look at her. "I know. You're the oldest and the youngest."

He blinked, that had caught him up short. Did he mean the youngest of his family? And the oldest of what? "Scuse' me?"

He shook his head. "How much do you want, Aniki?"

"Just a little." he smirked. "And now I'm Aniki?"

"Yup. You are." Raven sliced off a cut of meat, and moved to hold it over the hearth.

Ranma couldn't help but laugh at the kids audacity. "My brother should treat me with a little respect then. What were those things, anyway?"

"Kamaitachi. There's a couple packs of them around."

He recognized the name from another fairytale. The sickle-weasels, who always hunted in threes and were faster than the wind, faster than lightning... "Another damn living myth."

"Not anymore." Said Raven with a snort.

Ranma again smirked at the resemblance to himself. "Isn't it dangerous, living here with those things running around?"

Raven shook his head. "They don't attack me. They know better. Besides, I'm just here for a while." He turned the meat over, letting the flames lick each side equally. "I'll be moving on soon."

Ranma wasn't sure whether to be amused or alarmed by his confidence. The Kamaitachi weren't quite as fast as legend claimed, but they were still swift enough to be very, very dangerous. Unarmed, he wasn't sure how he would have done... and he strongly doubted that he could have held off three at once. A pack of them would probably have eaten this little kid up in one gulp, if they ever jumped him.

Then again, the kid was decidedly uneaten at the moment.

"Where're ya from?" he asked.

He shrugged. "I don't think I'm really from anywhere. I travel a lot, following things." With a flip of the knife, he tossed the hunk of meat onto a chipped china plate and slid it across the table to her. "What's your name, Aniki?"

"I'm Ranma, Saotome Ranma, Nice to meet ya." he bit off a hunk of the offered meat, and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor. "You're a pretty good cook, Kiddo."

"Thanks, Aniki." He smiled, and scratched at the shock of black hair above the hatband. "I do it a lot."

"I can't cook much anything but camp rations." Said Ranma, strangely embarrased at being out done by a kid.

"It's not your job," Raven said, looking amused.

He glanced at him, half-amused, half-surprised. "Why do ya say that?"

He shook his head. "I don't think it works that way."

"My fiance's older sister cooks for us." Ranma sighed. "I always wanted to be able ta give her a day off or something, since she does so much for me." A sour chuckle emerged. "Mostly though I just break things."

Raven nodded solemnly. "That's your job."

"Are you the one who divides up labor, Kiddo?" he said, chuckling.

His face darkened slightly. "Not me. I just hunt and wait."

"For what?"

"To hunt some more." He stared at her. "You don't know much, Aniki."

"Sometimes It feels like I don't really know anything," Ranma admitted.

"Then don't believe anything until you know everything, Aniki."

It was hard to tell whether or not to believe him, he thought with frustration. There was something odd about him, about this place, about the way he'd shot down the other two Kamaitachi, but he was only eleven or ten... He stared at him, suddenly certain he wasn't telling the truth. "Who are you?"

"I'm Raven, Aniki," he said. "I told you that already."

"I never had a brother who massacres people before," he said with a calm he didn't feel.

"First time for everything." He looked up sharply, frowning. "Why are you here? I knew you'd come, but I don't know why."

"You knew I'd come?" he repeated dumbly. "How?"

"Just knew. I usually know where my brothers are."

"I ain't your brother kid," Ranma said forcefully. "Were you waiting for me?"

He nodded. "I wanted to meet you."

"Why?" asked Ranma incredulously "Does it have ta do with why I'm here?"

Raven stared at the table for a second, and then shook his head. "I can't tell you Aniki, The Fair Lady would be cross, besides, It's your job to find out."

"That's okay. I have to get going, Bro. Thanks for the deer."

The boy nodded. "Aniki... be careful."

Ranma forced a smile. "No sweat."

Raven nodded, his face troubled. " The Fair Lady isn't as sensitive to your cause as I am."

"Again with this Fair Lady, who is she?" he asked, a sinking feeling rising in the pit of his stomach.

He nodded. "She's death." He froze. "She's not that far off, to the west. You'd better leave, Aniki. I might have to kill you if you don't."

Ranma looked at him for a second, nodded tersely, and stepped out the door. "Later, Raven."

"Goodbye, Aniki. You'll see me again."

And he probably would, Ranma thought dazedly, running from the cabin. It wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen of late.

The Lady was west, Raven had said, and had pointed to the left. Ranma began to angle the other way, suddenly feeling a need to move quickly. Maybe something was hunting him, and maybe it was just his imagination... but the quicker this was done, the better.

Raven remained standing in the door for a long time, watching him go. When he finally faded from sight amidst the trees, he sighed, walked back into the cabin, and picked up his shotgun and shouldered his knapsack. Taking a candle from the hearth, he set the curtain aflame, and watched until the windowframe had begun to burn.

"The circle is closed," he whispered, something in his voice afraid, and something gleeful and expectant. Then, chuckling, he dashed into the woods and headed south for the lands now crawling with prey.

From a ridge to the north, a gaunt figure with a ghost white face watched a column of smoke and flame rise from the clearing, scowled, and moved on faster than before.

End chapter 8b


	11. World of Warcraft

Between Asleep and Awake

A Ranma ½ fanfiction by:

Mika The Raven

Chapter 9: World of Warcraft

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any affiliated properties. All OC's hath sprung from the aetheric abyss i call my mind.

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Darkness surrounded her, it permeated her very being, frightening in its intensity but with a strange aura of harmony, like there was nowhere else that she was supposed to be. The darkness enveloped her, made her its own for she had noone else. To the rest of us this would be terrifying, but in her case there were entire stretches of time that elapsed where she had little idea of who she was or if she even truly existed. She would often half remember-half dream that she had made a deal with a man she trusted, a man who had betrayed her into darkness, a man she would revenge herself upon along with everybody else. But for now at least she was bound into servitude, until her task was complete. Now if only she could remember what she was supposed to do…

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Ranma continued along the black forest trail, unencumbered by fear, his encounter with Raven and the Kamaitachi having bolstered his belief that he was strong enough to deal with anything that this strange shadow world threw at him.

He had no idea where he was going, or in what direction but every time he veered from his heading a sharp pain lanced through his head informing him that moving in any other fashion would result in more of the same. Off in the distance was the same neolithic structure in front of which he had battled the vorpal spider. Every now and again he would pass some frightening analogue of the real world, a jungle gym that was in actuality a giant trap door spider, or a frisbee golf course that had screaming heads mounted on the flagpoles. Cries of agony and torment ebbed and flowed from a fiery mountain castle that seemed to grow out of a mountain. Off to his left there was a meadow of brightly colored flowers and trees with leaves made of razor blades, that stood in stark contrast to the rest of the world around him. He saw vaguely human shapes kneeling and praying in supplicance to a figure that looked like the King of Hearts.

"Gambler King?" He asked aloud, as he continued forward by passing the creppy meadow completely, pain in his head caused by the attempt to approach it.

"THAT IS NOT CHANCE G. KING AS YOU KNOW HIM. HE IS AN ASPECT WITH MUCH POWER TO INFLUENCE THE WAKING WORLD, HE IS THE SUICIDE KING." The Cats languid voice boomed behind his ear drum.

"Whattaya mean by aspect? What's that?" The pigtailed martial artist queried as he avoided a nasty looking tree root that was bleeding what appeared to be pus and bile.

He stopped suddenly as once again his brain was assaulted by agony.

"WHY ARE YA DOIN' THIS?! ALL I DID WAS ASK A QUESTION!" He screamed at his tormentor.

The pain subsided immediately as a tall thin man with a ghost white face and fierce cat like eyes stepped out of the shadows, and spoke in a familiar voice.

"I am not the one that causes you pain, it is not within my power to do so. Not to one as innately powerful as yourself." The man said in an apologetic tone.

"I believe introductions are in order." He said with a low sweeping bow. "My name is Bartholomew, Aspect of Those who Prey. Also known as The Cat. It is a pleasure to finally meet you in "person" so to speak."

Ranma's eyes widened in recognition and he jumped into the most aggressive combat stance that he knew.

"Whattaya want with me?" he growled out.

He tensed as the man now identified as Bartholomew chuckled. It was a harsh sound, like old steps creaking.

"My dear boy, I merely wish to help you as you make your transition. Surely you've noticed that no matter what you try to do in your life it always blows up in your face? Why do you suppose that is?" The etherial man said as he walked around Ranma in a lazy gait.

Ranma relaxed his stance a little and replied.

"I'm under a curse, several if tha old ghoul is right. The strongest one being tha "May you live in interesting times curse." He relaxed further as the man made that harsh rasping chuckle again.

"That's what you believe?" He barked out a laugh.

"My boy you are not influenced by anything other than yourself!" The laughter got louder more intense, and a strong breeze had begun where before the air had seemed stagnant. Strange dancing lights began moving out of the surrounding landscape, and began to coalesce into vaguely humanoid shapes, some horrifying, others so beautiful it was painful to look at them.

The Old Gods had come to welcome a new addition to their ranks. One that was possessed of a power that if left unchecked it could shatter the worlds. They were all there, yet not. They had without Ranma's realization moved to what appeared to be an immense council chamber.

Lucifer, Baal, Cthulu, Dagon, Alla, Yaweh, Willow, Cernunos, Czernobog, Kali, Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Amatarasu, Susanowo, Woden, Thor, Loki, Zeus, Athena, Pan, Hades, Dais, Rathmar, Zoamalgustar, Soff, Bhudda, and countless others all staring directly at him. God and Demon alike, all singing in a forgotten yet wholy familiar tongue, a beautiful and ugly sound.

Ranma was vaguely aware of the tendrils of dark energy that were weaving their way up and down his body.

"Ranma." The Cat whispered. "You are a curse, You are the Variable, The Cosmic Fulcrum, The Lord of the Ogdru Jahad, The Darkest Shadow, you are everything and nothing."

Ranma exploded.

Ranma was no more.

Ranma was Khaos.

Ranma was rebuilt.

Ranma Knew.

Ranma was a God.

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A/N Sorry about the huge delay folks, holy cow it's been a wild couple of years. But now I have a new computer and this story along with Hold the line will be updated on the tenth of every month until they are finished. Ciao!


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